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Oral Health Practices Among Pakistani Physicians
Introduction In most healthcare models, the first interaction of a patient is with a general physician. The inspection of the oral cavity is a mandatory component of the general physical examination performed by a physician. This helps detect any oral pathology and make suitable referrals. Therefore...
Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Cureus
2018
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5862468/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29568714 http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.2093 |
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author | Fatima, Syeda H Naseem, Sajida Awan, Sara A Ghazanfar, Haider Ali, Zainab Khan, Najeeb A |
author_facet | Fatima, Syeda H Naseem, Sajida Awan, Sara A Ghazanfar, Haider Ali, Zainab Khan, Najeeb A |
author_sort | Fatima, Syeda H |
collection | PubMed |
description | Introduction In most healthcare models, the first interaction of a patient is with a general physician. The inspection of the oral cavity is a mandatory component of the general physical examination performed by a physician. This helps detect any oral pathology and make suitable referrals. Therefore, adequate oral health awareness is essential for physicians. Our study aimed at evaluating the oral health practices among physicians working in a private teaching setup in Islamabad, Pakistan. Methods A cross-sectional study involving 144 physicians teaching undergraduate medical students at Shifa College of Medicine and its affiliated hospital, Shifa International Hospital, was conducted. Participants were interviewed through a self-designed questionnaire. Later, each participant demonstrated their teeth brushing technique on a standard model of the oral cavity, which was assessed against a checklist conforming to the modified bass technique. A video clip showing the aforementioned brushing technique was shown at the end of the interview. The collected data was analyzed on IBM's statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) version 21. Results Toothpaste was the top choice (97.2%) of teeth cleaning tool with 69% participants brushing their teeth two times a day and 56.9% using toothbrushes with bristles of medium texture. The use of mouthwash (32.6%) and dental floss (11.1%) was considerably low. Dental caries and teeth discoloration were seen in 46.5% and 43.8% physicians, respectively. An alarmingly low number of physicians (31.9%) claimed to have read guidelines regarding oral health. This translated into most participants (78.5%) visiting a dentist only when needed. Only 4.9% participants performed all components of the modified bass technique to clean teeth on the oral cavity model, with up to 22.9% unable to perform a single step accurately. Conclusion The oral health knowledge and practices of physicians were found to be suboptimal and necessitate the integration of oral health awareness in the medical curriculum. A multiprofessional approach with physicians in crucial roles is required to address the burden of dental diseases globally. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-5862468 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2018 |
publisher | Cureus |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-58624682018-03-22 Oral Health Practices Among Pakistani Physicians Fatima, Syeda H Naseem, Sajida Awan, Sara A Ghazanfar, Haider Ali, Zainab Khan, Najeeb A Cureus Family/General Practice Introduction In most healthcare models, the first interaction of a patient is with a general physician. The inspection of the oral cavity is a mandatory component of the general physical examination performed by a physician. This helps detect any oral pathology and make suitable referrals. Therefore, adequate oral health awareness is essential for physicians. Our study aimed at evaluating the oral health practices among physicians working in a private teaching setup in Islamabad, Pakistan. Methods A cross-sectional study involving 144 physicians teaching undergraduate medical students at Shifa College of Medicine and its affiliated hospital, Shifa International Hospital, was conducted. Participants were interviewed through a self-designed questionnaire. Later, each participant demonstrated their teeth brushing technique on a standard model of the oral cavity, which was assessed against a checklist conforming to the modified bass technique. A video clip showing the aforementioned brushing technique was shown at the end of the interview. The collected data was analyzed on IBM's statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) version 21. Results Toothpaste was the top choice (97.2%) of teeth cleaning tool with 69% participants brushing their teeth two times a day and 56.9% using toothbrushes with bristles of medium texture. The use of mouthwash (32.6%) and dental floss (11.1%) was considerably low. Dental caries and teeth discoloration were seen in 46.5% and 43.8% physicians, respectively. An alarmingly low number of physicians (31.9%) claimed to have read guidelines regarding oral health. This translated into most participants (78.5%) visiting a dentist only when needed. Only 4.9% participants performed all components of the modified bass technique to clean teeth on the oral cavity model, with up to 22.9% unable to perform a single step accurately. Conclusion The oral health knowledge and practices of physicians were found to be suboptimal and necessitate the integration of oral health awareness in the medical curriculum. A multiprofessional approach with physicians in crucial roles is required to address the burden of dental diseases globally. Cureus 2018-01-21 /pmc/articles/PMC5862468/ /pubmed/29568714 http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.2093 Text en Copyright © 2018, Fatima et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ 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. |
spellingShingle | Family/General Practice Fatima, Syeda H Naseem, Sajida Awan, Sara A Ghazanfar, Haider Ali, Zainab Khan, Najeeb A Oral Health Practices Among Pakistani Physicians |
title | Oral Health Practices Among Pakistani Physicians |
title_full | Oral Health Practices Among Pakistani Physicians |
title_fullStr | Oral Health Practices Among Pakistani Physicians |
title_full_unstemmed | Oral Health Practices Among Pakistani Physicians |
title_short | Oral Health Practices Among Pakistani Physicians |
title_sort | oral health practices among pakistani physicians |
topic | Family/General Practice |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5862468/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29568714 http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.2093 |
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