Naidu Guntipalli M, Prasad Ghanasyam M, Kandregula Chaitanya Ram, Babburi Suresh, Kvnr Pratap
Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Drs. Sudha and Nageswara Rao Siddhartha Institute of Dental Sciences , Chinavutappalli, Gannavaram-521286, Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, India .
Professor and HOD, Department of Pediatric Dentistry, St Joseph Dental College , Eluru, West Godavari, Andhra Pradesh, India .
J Clin Diagn Res. 2014 Feb;8(2):199-202. doi: 10.7860/JCDR/2014/6792.4059. Epub 2014 Feb 3.
The purpose of this study was to assess the attitude of dental students towards considering Public Health Dentistry as their future career.
A questionnaire based, cross-sectional survey was conducted, which included dental students from different years of study. It consisted of 27 questions that were graded on five point Likert scale.
A total of 293 of the 320 registered undergraduate students participated in the study, with an overall response rate of 91.5%. Among the sample, 80 (27%) were males and 213 (73%) were females. Among the total sample which was studied, it was observed that only one third (35.4%) of them had high attitude towards selecting Public Health Dentistry as a future career, and nearly two thirds of them (58.02%) had an average attitude, with very few students having low attitude (6.48%).
The present study concluded that there was an average attitude of 58% among dental students, which showed that they had a considerable amount of interest in pursuing post graduation in this speciality. Efforts should be intensified, both by dental council and by the dental colleges, to develop this speciality, keeping in mind the increasing attitude of dental undergraduates towards it. This also helps in increasing the number of dental personnel who are specialized in implementation of oral health policy, which does not exist in India.
本研究旨在评估牙科专业学生对将公共卫生牙科作为其未来职业的态度。
进行了一项基于问卷的横断面调查，调查对象包括不同年级的牙科专业学生。问卷由27个问题组成，采用五点李克特量表评分。
320名注册本科生中共有293人参与了该研究，总体回复率为91.5%。在样本中，男性80人（27%），女性213人（73%）。在所研究的总样本中，发现只有三分之一（35.4%）的学生对选择公共卫生牙科作为未来职业持积极态度，近三分之二（58.02%）的学生态度一般，只有极少数学生持消极态度（6.48%）。
本研究得出结论，牙科专业学生中有58%的人态度一般，这表明他们对该专业的研究生学习有相当浓厚的兴趣。牙科理事会和牙科学院应加大力度发展这一专业，同时要考虑到牙科本科生对其态度的日益转变。这也有助于增加印度目前缺乏的专门从事口腔健康政策实施的牙科人员数量。
