The Impact of Integrating Oral Health Education into a Medical Curriculum

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate our pilot program incorporating oral health education into the medical curriculum by evaluating students' perspectives on the oral health curriculum. Subjects and Methods: Two hundred second-year students were asked to fill in a presession su...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Medical principles and practice 2017-01, Vol.26 (1), p.61-65
Main Authors: Park, Sang E., Donoff, R. Bruce, Saldana, Fidencio
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attitude of Health Personnel
Boston
Cardiovascular disease
Curriculum
Dental schools
Dentists
Diagnosis, Oral
Education, Medical, Undergraduate - methods
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Humans
Oral Health - education
Original Paper
Pilot Projects
Schools, Medical
Students
Students, Dental - psychology
Students, Medical - psychology
Surveys and Questionnaires
Citations: Items that cite this one
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Summary:Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate our pilot program incorporating oral health education into the medical curriculum by evaluating students' perspectives on the oral health curriculum. Subjects and Methods: Two hundred second-year students were asked to fill in a presession survey online regarding their familiarity with basic oral health concepts and their comfort level with performing oral examinations, and a postsession survey on paper that repeated the presession questions and added questions on the effectiveness of the session. Results: Of the 200 students, 164 (82%) participated in the surveys. The pre- and postsurvey results showed that the session helped students become more comfortable with performing oral examinations and recognizing risks for periodontal disease, with an increase from 40 (27%) to 119 (82%) and 51 (35%) to 124 (86%), respectively. Conclusion: In this study, the oral health education session contributed to an increase in student awareness and understanding of oral health. Considering the reported effectiveness of the interactive session on student comfort with performing a basic clinical examination, this model shows promise for further use in other institutions.
ISSN:1011-7571
1423-0151
DOI:10.1159/000452275