HPV VACCINATION AWARENESS AND ITS RELATION TO ORAL AND OROPHARYNGEAL CANCER: A SINGLE CENTRE STUDY

Background - The recently developed HPV vaccine is highly effective against the HPV virus. It has met widespread acceptance amongst healthcare and public health professionals. However, there are still social barriers to vaccination that hampers the effects of preventing the disease caused by HPV. The primary goal of this study was to evaluate the survey responses regarding the knowledge, awareness, and vaccination status among dental professionals and students in a local population and to emphasize the relationship between HPV and the increasing incidence of oral and oropharyngeal cancers in the current scenario. Methodology - This study was a prospective analysis of a questionnaire collected from the dentist and dental students at The Faculty of Dental Sciences, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research, Porur, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India; regarding their knowledge, awareness, and Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) - vaccination status.Results - 96% of the participants were aware of the HPV and only 4% were unaware of the virus. About 18.7 % of the participants were unaware of the modes of transmission of HPV. Only 66.6 % knew that HPV - 16 and 18 were responsible for Oral and cervical cancers. Conclusion - Understanding the barriers and hesitancy to vaccination is the crucial step to designing strategies that may aid in enhancing the vaccination

Students’ perception on online learning during COVID pandemic in a tertiary care teaching hospital

Medical and Dental students are exposed to online classes for the first time during the COVID pandemic. The current study was planned to understand their perceptions about these online classes in contrast to classroom teaching and suggest strategies to improve them.A cross-sectional study was carried out among all the students of Malla Reddy Medical College for Women and Malla Reddy Dental College for Women during September 2020. The study questionnaire containing 20 questions was prepared, prevalidated and distributed to all the study participants as google form. Data from completed questionnaires was entered into an excel sheet and analyzed using descriptive statistics.Analysis of data from 279 students revealed that the 69% of the students used smartphones to attend online classes, 96% of them reported having internet problems and 42% of the students enjoyed the online classes. Understanding of the topic and knowledge gained during online classes were rated average and above average by 59% and 53% of the students respectively. Many students felt that long screen hours have made the classes less interesting and caused health issues like headaches, eyestrain, and backache. They also felt that online classes were less interactive and did not provide much clinical and practical knowledge.Students showed a negative response to online classes. There is a need to make online classes more interactive and interesting by using certain strategies like problem-solving activities, quizzes, discussions, surveys, and polls. Faculty should be trained in good online teaching practices to ensure its success.

Factors Involved in the Perception of Enamel Dyschromic Lesions—A Questionnaire-Based Study

Dyschromic lesions (DLs) of tooth enamel are common disorders, with multiple etiologies and various clinical forms, that raise public health concerns. This study aimed to determine the factors that influence the perception of DLs and to assess the perceived need for dental treatment in various clinical cases. A paper-based questionnaire with attached images of frontal teeth exhibiting different DLs was distributed to patients, dental students, and dentists. A total of 383 volunteers participated in this study, and their answers were statistically described and analyzed. This study found that in cases with multiple, well-demarcated areas of opacities associated with diffuse opacities on neighboring teeth, most respondents noticed and reported only the most severe lesions, disregarding the minor ones. The contrast of the lesion with the color of the substrate influenced the overall perception and a significant correlation between these two variables was found. However, the color of the DLs did not significantly impact the overall perception of the lesions. A higher overall perception of DLs was significantly correlated with a favorable opinion regarding the need for treatment. Furthermore, gender and medical background were significantly associated with the overall perception of DLs.

Antibacterial Efficacy of Herbal Toothpaste Containing Bamboo Salt: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

Background: The inclusion of herbal antibacterial agents in the composition of toothpastes is becoming increasingly popular, due to lower side effects. The present study intended to investigate the antibacterial efficacy of a herbal toothpaste containing Bamboo salt on cariogenic oral bacteria. Methods: The present double-blinded parallel randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted on 60 dental students (age range: 18-30). Following the baseline saliva sampling, the participants were randomly assigned into the case and control groups, to use the Bamboo salt herbal toothpaste and conventional non-herbal toothpaste, respectively. They were instructed to brush their teeth twice a day using the Bass technique. Saliva sampling was repeated after four weeks. The salivary counts of Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacillus at baseline and 4-week follow-up were determined and presented as the logarithm of colony-forming units per milliliter (log CFU/mL). statistical analysis was performed using independent samples t-test and paired sample t-test (P<0.05). Results: A significant decrease in salivary Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacillus was observed using both toothpastes (*P<0.001). The difference between the antibacterial efficacy of two toothpaste types on Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacillus was not statistically significant (P=0.530, and P=0.137, respectively). Conclusion: Due to the comparable efficacy of the investigated herbal toothpaste with conventional toothpaste, it potentially qualifies as a complementary agent for self-care oral hygiene procedures. Trial registration: This trial was registered in the “Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials” (IRCT20210414050964N1) on 21/06/2021.

Vaccine-associated complications: a comparative multicenter evaluation among dental practitioners and dental students—which candidate vaccine is more safe in SARS COV II, Gam-COVID-Vac (Sputnik V), ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AstraZeneca), BBV152 (Covaxin), or BBIBP-CorV(Sinopharm)?

Background The rapidly developed vaccines against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 carry a risk of provoking side effects. This study aimed to evaluate current vaccination non-serious/serious side effects. Methods A multicenter electronic questionnaire via an online platform was conducted over a 1-week period among vaccinated dental staff and dental students inquiring whether they experienced vaccine-related side-effects after vaccine administration. Results A total of 1205 respondents with a mean age of 39 (SD: 12) were retained for the analyses. The following vaccines were reported; Gam-COVID-Vac (Sputnik V), ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AstraZeneca), BBV152 (Covaxin), or BBIBP-CorV (Sinopharm). The majority of respondents received ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (51.1%) and Gam-COVID-Vac (37.6%). The symptoms most frequently reported after vaccination were fatigue (79%), local pain in the injection site (77.4%), malaise (73%), and body pain (71.1%). Enrollees reported more onset of reactions on 0–12 h (44.1%) and 12–24 h (29.0%) after vaccine administration (p value <0.001). In 75.7%, the side effects last for up to 3 days. Merely 5.5% of cases reported the presence of side effects after the first week. Individuals with a history of SARSCoV-2 and other infections (MERS, influenza, and EBV) were more likely to report a number of unserious systemic side effects. Conclusion The commonly reported adverse events were in line with similar studies. We have concerns with the frequency of serious adverse effects. This work necessitates the need for further clinical assessments with larger sample sizes.

An educational approach for early student self-assessment in clinical periodontology

Background Self-assessment is a mandated educational requirement for use in dental undergraduate programmes. It is weakly supported for use in early clinical training and studies are criticized for the conceptual and methodology shortfalls. The aim of the study was to compare the alignment of student self-assessment to both staff assessment and written exams in early clinical training using an educational approach. Methods In 2014-2015, 55 third-year dental students completed three educational sessions comprising of (a) classroom teaching (lecture, video) with post-lesson written exam and (b) clinical activity with student self-assessment, staff assessment and student reflection. An intra-individual analysis approach, staff validation, and student scoring standardization were implemented. Cognitive (clinical competency) and non-cognitive (professionalism) items were separated in the analyses. Results There were medium correlations (Spearman’s rho, r) between student self-assessment and staff assessment scores for cognitive items (r, 0.32) and for non-cognitive items (r, 0.44) for all three combined sessions. There were large correlations for individual sessions. Compared to the post-lesson written exam, students showed small correlation (r, 0.22, 0.29) and staff showed medium correlation (r, 0.31, 0.34) for cognitive and non-cognitive items. Students showed improvements in their mean scores for both cognitive (t-test; p > 0.05) and non-cognitive items (t-test; p = 0.000). Mean scores of students were not different statistically from that of staff (p > 0.05). Conclusions Students may adequately act as self-assessors at the beginning of their clinical work in periodontology. Self-assessment may potentially improve the clinical performance. Self-assessment may be nurtured through clear guidelines, educational training strategies, feedback and reflection leading to better evaluative judgement and lifelong learning.

Knowledge about biosafety measures in clinical setting during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study with Brazilian dental students

Objective: To evaluate the knowledge of Brazilian dental students about biosafety measures that should be adopted in the clinical setting during the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Methods: A cross-sectional study with 1,050 dental students was conducted. A semi-structured questionnaire was shared with students. Mean knowledge score on biosafety guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic was the outcome, with a maximum of 8 scores. Explanatory variables included sociodemographic and educational characteristics, aspects related to biosafety education, actions adopted by the dental schools during the pandemic, and sources of biosafety information. Multivariate linear regression analyses were performed. Results: Mean knowledge score was 5.19 (1.28). Female students (β=0.346; 95%CI:0.154–0.539), those enrolled in the intermediate (β=0.525; 95%CI:0.167–0.883) or final (β=0.569; 95%CI:0.200–0.937) stage of course, and those who had already received theoretical-practical training in biosafety (β=0.464; 95%CI:0.063–0.866) presented higher mean knowledge scores. Students who did not receive guidance on aerosol control measures before the pandemic (β=-0.324; 95%CI:-0.519–-0.130) had the lowest score. Conclusion: Students presented a medium level of knowledge about dental biosafety measures in the COVID-19 pandemic. Sociodemographic characteristics and those related to the institutional profile of the participants, and access to orientation and training in biosafety may influence their knowledge.