Cariology Unit, Department of Oral Rehabilitation, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Talca, Talca, Chile.
College of Dental Medicine-Illinois (CDMI), Midwestern University, Illinois, USA.
J Dent Educ. 2020 Dec;84(12):1426-1437. doi: 10.1002/jdd.12357. Epub 2020 Aug 17.
Whether the understanding of dental caries influences how future dentists manage the disease themselves has not been previously studied. Thus, this study evaluated whether the conceptualization (understanding) of dental caries by dental students is related to their own preventive oral care routine.
Dental students at a U.S. dental school (n = 517) were invited to voluntarily respond to an anonymous electronic survey in spring 2018. Demographic characteristics, caries conceptualization (CC), dental care habits, and self-caries risk determination were asked. Discursive responses to CC were analyzed by content analysis technique, and categories [c] were created. Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests were used for analysis.
Overall response rate was 54.5% (n = 282, 48.2% female). Three researchers independently analyzed discursive answers and classified them into 1 of 6 caries concept categories [c]: [c1] only signs of the disease (10.3%), [c2] bacterial disease-not specifying bacterial metabolism (38.3%), [c3] bacterial byproducts-not specifying substrate (13.8%), [c4] biological or multifactorial concept (24.8%), [c5] comprehensive multifactorial disease (8.2%), or [c6] other (4.6%). Only 33% completely defined dental caries according to the modern understanding of the disease (c4-c5). Statistical differences were found between: CC and diet modification, CC and rinsing after brushing, year of school (YS) and self-determined caries-risk, YS and brushing at school, and YS and rinsing after brushing (P < 0.05).
Our data suggest that the students' understanding of the disease can influence how they will manage the disease in terms of diet modification and behavior after brushing. Moreover, self-caries risk determination influenced students' brushing behavior.
以前从未研究过对龋齿的理解是否会影响未来牙医对该疾病的管理方式。因此，本研究评估了牙科学生对龋齿的概念化（理解）是否与他们自己的预防性口腔护理习惯有关。
邀请美国一所牙科学校的牙科学生（n=517）自愿在 2018 年春季回答匿名电子调查。询问了人口统计学特征、龋齿概念化（CC）、口腔保健习惯和自我龋齿风险确定。使用内容分析技术对 CC 的论述性回答进行了分析，并创建了类别[c]。使用卡方检验和 Fisher 确切检验进行分析。
总体回复率为 54.5%（n=282，48.2%为女性）。三位研究人员独立分析了论述性回答，并将其分为 6 个龋齿概念类别[c]之一：[c1]仅疾病迹象（10.3%）、[c2]细菌疾病-不指定细菌代谢（38.3%）、[c3]细菌副产物-不指定基质（13.8%）、[c4]生物或多因素概念（24.8%）、[c5]综合多因素疾病（8.2%）或[c6]其他（4.6%）。只有 33%的人根据疾病的现代理解完全定义了龋齿（c4-c5）。在以下方面发现了 CC 与饮食改变、CC 与刷牙后冲洗之间的差异：CC 与饮食改变、CC 与刷牙后冲洗、学年（YS）与自我确定的龋齿风险、YS 与在学校刷牙、YS 与刷牙后冲洗（P<0.05）。
我们的数据表明，学生对疾病的理解会影响他们在饮食改变和刷牙后行为方面对疾病的管理方式。此外，自我龋齿风险确定影响了学生的刷牙行为。
