Knowledge of UK Dental Undergraduates and Dentists in Treating Dentine Hypersensitivity

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Author Info

J. Hatton K. Kumar D G Gillam

Corresponding Author

D G Gillam
Department of Adult Oral Health, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry QMUL, London, UK

A B S T R A C T

Aim: The purpose of the present questionnaire-based study was to evaluate the knowledge and understanding of UK based dental undergraduates and qualified dentists in treating Dentine Hypersensitivity (DH). Methods: 120 questionnaires were handed out to 4th and 5th year dental students and Staff at the Dental Hospital in London UK as part of a collaborative study with the Faculdade de Odontologia de Bauru, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The questionnaire consisted of 22 questions, which included both open and closed questions. Results: 91 questionnaires (75.8% response rate) were returned; of the 91 respondents (38M; 52F, 1 missing value) 53 were dentists (61%) and 34 were dental students (39%) (4 missing values). 37.5% of students indicated that 10% of patients suffered from DH whereas 18.9% of dentists indicated that 25% of patients suffered from DH. Both dentists (22.6%) and 27.5% of students indicated that DH lasted >12 weeks. 18.9% of dentists considered that DH was a serious problem for patients although 32.5% of students were not sure. Dentists (66%) and students (62.5%) indicated that DH had a major impact on the quality of life (QOL) with 51.1% (dentists) and 56.3% (students) indicating that it was moderate in nature. Conclusion: The results of the present pilot study would suggest that in terms of knowledge and understanding of DH (e.g., hydrodynamic theory) both dentists (90.5%) and students (76.9%) were comparable although in the assessment and subsequent management of DH the results indicated that dentists were more confident than the students.

Article Info

Article Type

Research Article

Publication history

Received: Wed 06, May 2020
Accepted: Thu 21, May 2020
Published: Thu 18, Jun 2020

Copyright

© 2023 D G Gillam. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Hosting by Science Repository.
DOI: 10.31487/j.DOBCR.2020.03.01