ABSTRACT
A questionnaire study was conducted among dental students in Central India. The study
population included 264 dental students, who voluntarily completed a questionnaire,
comprising of 16 close ended questions. There were 9 questions to judge knowledge
and 5 questions for attitude assessment towards global oral health course. Two additional
questions were included to assess the willingness to volunteer in international setting;
and also, to assess dental student’s perspection on global oral health course. Chi
Square test was used to compare between categorical variables. Analysis of Variance
(ANOVA) was used to compare mean of knowledge and attitude scores. P value of ≤.05
was considered significant for all statistical analysis. Eighty seven percent of the
surveyed students (222) stated that they would consider volunteering their dental
skills as a future dentist in international setting. Majority of the students in the
present study were not aware about the global oral health status (99.2%) and theoral
health care systems of industrialized and emerging economies (99.2%), had not been
trained to serve underserved population (68%), had not been trained in global health
ethics (70.1%) and none of the students had been trained for cultural competence in
addressing international oral health issues (100%). Most of the dental students were
not aware, that, WHO created basic package of oral care (63%) about the primary health
care strategy (59.5%) and about the role and functions of FDI (66.7%). The majority
of students expressed a desire to volunteer their professional services in international
settings. However few students knew about WHO’s BPOC or FDI’S role in global oral
health. The findings indicate a need for global oral health course among dental students
in Central India. (Eur J Dent 2012;6:295-301)
Key words
Global oral health - primary oral health - pre doctoral dental education - dental
volunteer
