Akçiçek Gökçen, Katı Ezgi, Zengin Hatice Yağmur
Faculty of Dentistry, Department of Dentomaxillofacial Radiology, Hacettepe University, Sıhhiye, Ankara, 06100, Turkey.
Faculty of Dentistry, Department of Dentomaxillofacial Radiology, Dicle University, Sur, Diyarbakır, 21800, Turkey.
BMC Med Educ. 2025 Jan 31;25(1):160. doi: 10.1186/s12909-025-06758-y.
Teledentistry is a part of telemedicine and can be used for dental diagnosis, dental care, consultation, and dental education. The objective of this study was to assess the awareness, knowledge, and attitudes of undergraduate dental students toward teledentistry, as well as to investigate the influence of enrolling in a teledentistry course on these variables.
A structured questionnaire-based online survey (Google Form) was used as the survey tool to evaluate the undergraduate dental students' awareness, knowledge, and attitudes towards teledentistry. All undergraduate dental students during the 2022-2023 academic year, were invited to join this questionnaire. The questionnaire was posted to the students who agreed to answer the survey online. Associations between categorical variables were evaluated using the Pearson Chi-square test or Fisher-Freeman-Halton Exact test. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare two independent groups, and the Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare more than two independent groups. All analyses were conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 23.0 (IBM Corp. Released 2015, Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.). The significance level was set at p < 0.05 for all analyses. Explanatory factor analysis and item analysis were used for the evaluation of the validity of the questionnaire.
There were 293 participants from five classes, with a 36.08% response rate; 190 (64.8%) were female and 103 (35.2%) were male, with a median age of 21 years (minimum 17 years, maximum 44 years). In this study, 37.9% of the participants had heard of teledentistry, 30.7% knew what teledentistry is, approximately one-third of the students were aware that there is a course called teledentistry in our faculty, and only 11.6% took the course. Undergraduate dental students had high levels of knowledge and awareness about the advantages and limitations of teledentistry. Dental students who had taken the course had a more positive attitude towards using teledentistry.
Enhancing dental students' knowledge and awareness of teledentistry could beneficially influence their utilization of teledentistry in their future careers.
This study is not a clinical trial involving medicinal products or therapeutic interventions, so the clinical trial number is not applicable.
远程牙科是远程医疗的一部分，可用于牙科诊断、牙科护理、咨询和牙科教育。本研究的目的是评估牙科专业本科生对远程牙科的认知、知识和态度，并调查参加远程牙科课程对这些变量的影响。
采用基于结构化问卷的在线调查（谷歌表单）作为调查工具，以评估牙科专业本科生对远程牙科的认知、知识和态度。邀请了2022 - 2023学年的所有牙科专业本科生参与这份问卷。问卷被发送给同意在线回答调查的学生。分类变量之间的关联使用Pearson卡方检验或Fisher - Freeman - Halton精确检验进行评估。Mann - Whitney U检验用于比较两个独立组，Kruskal - Wallis检验用于比较两个以上独立组。所有分析均使用IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows，版本23.0（IBM公司，2015年发布，纽约州阿蒙克：IBM公司）进行。所有分析的显著性水平设定为p < 0.05。使用解释性因素分析和项目分析来评估问卷的有效性。
来自五个班级的293名参与者，回复率为36.08%；190名（64.8%）为女性，103名（35.2%）为男性，年龄中位数为21岁（最小17岁，最大44岁）。在本研究中，37.9%的参与者听说过远程牙科，30.7%知道远程牙科是什么，约三分之一的学生知道我们学院有一门名为远程牙科的课程，只有11.6%的学生上过这门课。牙科专业本科生对远程牙科的优点和局限性有较高的知识水平和认知。上过该课程的牙科学生对使用远程牙科持更积极的态度。
提高牙科学生对远程牙科的知识和认知可能会对他们未来职业生涯中远程牙科的使用产生有益影响。
本研究不是涉及药品或治疗干预的临床试验，因此临床试验编号不适用。
