Influence of early clinical exposure for undergraduate students on self-perception of different aspects of geriatric dental care: Pilot study between two colleges from Japan and India

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to identify the influence of early clinical exposure for undergraduate students on self-perception of different aspects of geriatric dental care.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: We have selected two different colleges from Japan and India, namely, Tokyo Dental College (TDC), Tokyo, and Government Dental College (GDC), Nagpur, respectively. The GDC students exposed to patients in a 3(rd) year and TDC in the 5(th) year of course. Survey of 74 undergraduate students GDC and 95 of TDC was conducted. The questionnaire was developed based on to the 50 points undergraduate curriculum by European College of Gerodontology. The questionnaire categorized into four parts; Part I (15 questions) on aging and medicine, Part II (15 questions) on communication skills, Part III (15 questions) on diagnosis/treatment, and Part IV (5 questions) on need of more training in Gerodontology. Their own-perception on self-knowledge and competency was scored on 4 level scale as 3, 2, 1, and 0 for response yes, rather yes, rather no, and no, respectively. Average scores were calculated and presented.

RESULTS: The differences of the opinions as per students' perception level were found to be slightly more affirmative in GDC students (1.9 for the 4(th) year and 2 for the 5(th) year) than TDC students (1.1 for 5(th) grade and 1.5 for 6(th) grade). Both clinical and didactic hours should be increased in curriculum according to the TDC (89%) and GDC (79%) students. Separate gerodontology subject is suggested from TDC (76%) to GDC (81%) students.

CONCLUSION: Average scores about own-perception of knowledge and competency about aging, medicine, and communication skills were almost same in both GDC and TDC students. With early clinical exposure, GDC students appear have better self-perception regarding the different aspects of the geriatric dental care including subject knowledge, communications, diagnosis, and treatment planning than TDC students with late clinical exposure.