MATERIALS AND METHODS: A survey on dentists' knowledge and their practices in prevention and early detection of oral cancer was conducted using a 26-item self-administered questionnaire.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: A response rate of 41.7% was achieved. The level of knowledge on early signs and risk habits associated with oral cancer was high and the majority reported to have conducted opportunistic screening and advised patients on risk habit cessation. Factors that influenced the dentist in practising prevention and early detection of oral cancer were continuous education on oral cancer, age, nature of practice and recent graduation. Notably, dentists were receptive to further training in the area of oral cancer detection and cessation of risk habits. Taken together, the study demonstrated that the dental clinic is a good avenue to conduct programs on opportunistic screening, and continuous education in these areas is necessary to adequately equip dentists in running these programs. Further, this study also highlighted knowledge deficits and practice shortcomings which will help in planning and developing programs that further encourage better participation of dentists in prevention and early detection of oral cancer.
METHODS: Potential relevant undergraduate paediatric dentistry topics were initially drafted and revised according to the revised national competency statement. The final draft included 65 topics clustered under 18 domains. A fuzzy Delphi method was used and experts who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were invited to anonymously ranked the importance of relevant topics using a five-point Likert scale and proposed suitable cognitive and psychomotor levels for each topic. Fuzzy evaluation was then performed, and experts were considered to have reached a consensus if the following three conditions were achieved: (a). the difference between the average and expert rating data was ≤ 0.2; (b). the average expert consensus was ˃70%; and (c). the average fuzzy number was ≥ 0.5. Subsequently, the mean ratings were used to determine the cognitive and psychomotor levels.
RESULTS: 20 experts participated in the survey. 64 out of 65 paediatric dentistry topics were deemed acceptable. The average fuzzy number ranged from 0.36 to 0.85, while the average Likert score ranged from 3.05 to 5.00. The topic "Dental amalgam" was rejected based on expert consensus since the average fuzzy number was 0.36. The most significant topic was "Pit and fissure sealant", followed by "Preventive advice", "Early childhood caries", "Dental caries in children & adolescent", "Management of dental caries in paediatric patients", and "Consent" which were equally ranked as the second most important topics. According to Bloom's and Simpson's taxonomies, most of the paediatric dentistry topics were rated adequate for undergraduate students at the cognitive level of "Apply" (C3) and a psychomotor level of "Guided response" (P3).
CONCLUSION: The current study successfully identified relevant undergraduate paediatric dentistry topics using the fuzzy Delphi method, which can facilitate future educators to improve existing Malaysian undergraduate paediatric dental curricula.
RESULTS: It was seen from the results of the study that the first-choice antibiotics for 67.8% of dentists were found to be the β-lactam group while sulfonamides and tetracyclines at 20% were the second most prescribed group. Another important finding was that 45.6% of dentists ignored hypersensitivity testing before prescription of antibiotics even though 83.3% of the total dentists interviewed were aware of the increase in antibiotic resistance.
CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the dentists are partially aware of the guidelines but need further training and education on antimicrobial prescription that enables evidence-based decision-making for better practices and outcomes.
METHODS: Dentists were recruited through two main dental associations in Malaysia and attended a 1-day training session on recognizing abnormalities within the oral cavity. Following the training, the dentists conducted screening and provided risk habits cessation advice at their respective clinics for 6 months. The impact of the program was evaluated by determining the number of patients who were screened and/or provided with risk habits cessation advice.
RESULTS: Twenty-six dentists took part in the program and conducted opportunistic screening on a total of 2603 individuals. On average, they screened about 23.0% of their patients and 5.1% were given risk habits cessation advice. Notably, dentists who had lower patient load were more likely to conduct opportunistic screening.
CONCLUSIONS: While the participating private dentists state that they have a role in performing opportunistic screening and providing risk habits cessation advice, these activities are still not a priority area in the private clinics, strongly suggesting that strategies to motivate dentists in this setting are urgently needed.
METHODOLOGY: An audio-recorded, semi-structured qualitative phone interview was conducted with the heads of 42 nursing schools across Australia (n = 35) and Malaysia (n = 7) during the 2015 academic year. Qualitative data were analysed via thematic analysis. Quantitative data, wherever appropriate, were measured for frequencies.
RESULTS: The response rate was 34.2% (n = 12) and 71.4% (n = 5) for the Australian and Malaysian subjects, respectively. Findings revealed that although all the nursing schools measured provided didactic and clinical training in oral health, curriculum content, expected learning outcomes, amount of clinical exposure and assessment approach lacked consistency. Most nursing educators across both countries perceived an overloaded curriculum as a barrier to providing oral health education. Whilst educators demonstrated their support for training in this area of care, they expressed the need for an established national guideline that highlights the educational requirement for future nurses in oral health maintenance and their scope of practice.
CONCLUSION: This study provides valuable information for further developing oral health education for nurses, to improve their competency and ultimately the health of the communities that they will serve.