Tiwari L, Gikas A, Balasubramaniam R
UWA Dental School, The University of Western Australia, Nedlands, Western Australia, Australia.
Melbourne Teaching Health Clinics, The University of Melbourne, Carlton, Victoria, Australia.
Aust Dent J. 2024 Jun;69 Suppl 1(Suppl 1):S121-S137. doi: 10.1111/adj.13055. Epub 2024 Dec 30.
This study aimed to evaluate the current status of dental sleep medicine education across dental schools in Australia and New Zealand and gain further insights into the educational background of dentists who have sat the Australasian Sleep Association Fellow of Dental Sleep Medicine examination in 2023.
Online surveys were carried out, and descriptive statistics were used to analyse data.
All dental schools responded to the survey. Seventy per cent of the schools included dental sleep medicine as part of their curriculum, with an average total teaching time of 2.6 h. Dentists who sat the Fellow of dental sleep medicine examination spent on average 87 h preparing for the examination. All dental schools included discussion on pathophysiology of obstructive sleep apnoea and oral appliance therapy, but did not adequately discuss advanced sleep medicine topics, clinical aspects in treatment planning or contemporary dental sleep medicine topics, whereas dentists that completed the Fellow of dental sleep medicine examination gained knowledge in all aspects of the field.
Findings from the study reveal that dental schools across Australia and New Zealand are not delivering adequate levels of education in dental sleep medicine, and hence the current dental sleep medicine curriculum needs to be reviewed and improved.
本研究旨在评估澳大利亚和新西兰各牙科学院牙科睡眠医学教育的现状，并进一步深入了解参加2023年澳大利亚睡眠协会牙科睡眠医学院士考试的牙医的教育背景。
开展在线调查，并使用描述性统计方法分析数据。
所有牙科学院均对调查做出了回应。70%的学校将牙科睡眠医学纳入其课程，平均总教学时长为2.6小时。参加牙科睡眠医学院士考试的牙医平均花费87小时备考。所有牙科学院都包含了关于阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停的病理生理学和口腔矫治器治疗的讨论，但对高级睡眠医学主题、治疗计划中的临床方面或当代牙科睡眠医学主题讨论不足，而完成牙科睡眠医学院士考试的牙医在该领域的各个方面都获得了知识。
该研究结果表明，澳大利亚和新西兰的牙科学院在牙科睡眠医学方面未提供足够水平的教育，因此当前的牙科睡眠医学课程需要进行审查和改进。
