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Journal of Stomatology
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4/2024
vol. 77
 
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abstract:
Original paper

Perceptions of medical students on oral healthcare in Iran: a cross-sectional study

Maryam Pakniyat Jahromi
1
,
Mahtab Memarpour
1
,
Saba Jafari
1
,
Hamid Reza Pakshir
2
,
Mehrdad Vossoughi
3
,
Leo Atwood
4

  1. Oral and Dental Disease Research Center, Department of Pediatric Dentistry, School of Dentistry, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
  2. Orthodontic Research Center, Department of Orthodontics, School of Dentistry, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
  3. Oral and Dental Disease Research Center, Department of Dental Public Health, School of Dentistry, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
  4. Faculties of Arts (East Asian Studies) & Education (Adult Education), University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
J Stoma 2024; 77, 4: 284-291
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5114/jos.2024.145794
Online publish date: 2024/12/20
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Introduction
As future healthcare providers, medical students should instruct patients on preventing oral and dental diseases, and refer them to dental specialists.

Objectives
The study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and behavior on oral healthcare among medical students in Iran.

Material and methods
This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2021, and included 260 medical students from medical schools in Iran (23 universities) using a convenience sampling method. After obtaining consent, respondents completed an online questionnaire. All data were classified for each of the questions, and analyzed using independent sample t-test, Pearson’s correlation test, and path analysis.

Results
The final study sample comprised 260 completed surveys from 519 distributed questionnaires. Almost half of the respondents (49.6%) showed good knowledge on oral health, while under half (40.4%) reported a reason­able level of oral health behavior. Most of the participants (89.6%) presented a positive attitude towards oral health. There was a significant association between the scores for attitude and behavior (r = 0.25, p < 0.001), attitude and knowledge (r = 0.35, p < 0.001), and behavior and knowledge (r = 0.39, p < 0.001). 96.2% of the respondents felt the need to learn the principles of dentistry.

Conclusions
Iranian medical students did not have adequate knowledge on oral health, although their attitudes towards it were sufficient, but their behaviors were inadequate. More emphasis should be given on the importance of familiarity with oral health knowledge and performance in medical curricula.

keywords:

medical students, health knowledge, attitudes, practice, oral health

  
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