Background: Stress in dental students may be multifactorial, arising from the academic and sociocultural environment. Identifying the sources of stress helps in advocating policy changes and strategies to alleviate the stress. Aim: To evaluate the factors affecting stress among undergraduate and postgraduate dental students of Andhra Pradesh, India. Materials and Methods: A self-administered Modified Dental Environmental Stress questionnaire was distributed among 390 dental students who participated voluntarily. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics, version 20, and ANOVA and Student's t-test were conducted where P ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Students perceived more stress from domains related to the future prospects (2.53 ± 0.97) and personal factors (2.35 ± 0.66) followed by stress associated with faculty (2.12 ± 0.78) and clinical/academic factors (2.12 ± 0.55), with a statistically significant difference (P = 0.001). Third- and final-year undergraduate students perceived higher levels of stress regarding future, clinical/academic factors, and personal factors. Students who chose dentistry as their first choice of admission experienced less stress compared to the students whose choice of admission was medicine or other courses. Conclusion: Overall stress levels were slight to moderate and were significantly higher among the third- and final-year undergraduate students.

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Background: Stress has become a part of one's life, which results in the development of depression and anxiety. This is commonly thought to have a net-negative effect on the efficacy of the immune response, subsequently resulting in periodontal breakdown. Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the effect of depression, anxiety, and stress [DAS] over periodontal health indicators among the health-care professional students. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted in 375 undergraduate health professional students, of which 125 were medical students, 125 were dental students, and 125 were pharmacy students, who were taken from three colleges in Andhra Pradesh. Questionnaires (self-reported oral hygiene questionnaire and DAS Scale questionnaire) were given to the participants, and clinical examination was conducted in all the participants to assess the plaque index (PI), gingival index (GI), probing depth, and clinical attachment level. Statistical analysis was performed using the ANOVA test and post hoc test to compare the psychological parameters with periodontal parameters among three groups of health professional students. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Medical students depicted higher mean stress levels (8.00 ± 2.75) (P < 0.001) and mean DAS score (20.23 ± 6.21) (P < 0.001) than dental and pharmacy students; the mean PI (1.05 ± 0.38) (P < 0.001) and the mean GI (0.72 ± 0.38) (P < 0.001) scores are also increased with stress levels among medical students. Conclusion: Psychological factors have an adverse effect over the plaque levels and gingival status among the students.

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Background: Children under the age of 6 years spend most of their time with their parents and guardians, especially mothers, even when they attend preschool or nurseries. It has been found that young children's oral health maintenance and outcomes are influenced by their parent's knowledge and beliefs. Mothers play a vital role in maintaining their children's oral hygiene. Aim: The aim of this study was done to assess the knowledge and practice of oral hygiene among mothers of 3- to 6-year-old preschool children visiting the anganwadis of Bangalore city. Materials and Methods: Mothers of children aged 3–6 years visiting various anganwadis were invited to participate in the study. The sample comprised of 200 mothers through simple random sampling. A pretested questionnaire covering sociodemographic details, importance of brushing deciduous teeth, and oral hygiene practices was distributed to mothers who were willing to participate. Results: In the present study, majority of mothers visiting the anganwadi had only primary school education (79%). About 79.4% of mothers did not have any knowledge regarding the time of eruption of their child's deciduous teeth, 63.8% of mothers did not know the importance of brushing their child's deciduous teeth, and 84.3% mothers did not know that oral diseases can affect general health. Conclusion: The result of the present study showed that the oral health knowledge among the mothers visiting the anganwadis was poor. Awareness programs targeting expectant mothers visiting anganwadis should be employed by training the anganwadi teachers, and importance of primary teeth should be emphasized in different oral health education programs

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Background: Chronic infection has a known effect on the cytokine levels of the body which adversely affects erythropoiesis. Aim: The aim of this study is to compare hematological parameters among participants with and without chronic periodontitis which also is a known infectious inflammatory disease of the gums. Materials and Methods: Forty patients with severe chronic periodontitis (Group A) and forty periodontally healthy participants (Group B) in the age group of 30–55 years presenting to the Outpatient Department of the Faculty of Dental Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, were recruited in the study and were assessed for various hematological and periodontal parameters. SPSS 17.0 version was used. Student's t-test (unpaired) was used. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Group A showed lower hemoglobin (Hb, 13.47 ± 1.05, P = 0.019), erythrocyte count (4.63 ± 0.40, P = 0.002), and mean corpuscular Hb concentration (32.58 ± 0.90, P = 0.003) values compared to Group B (13.95 ± 0.70, 4.90 ± 0.33, and 33.18 ± 0.81, respectively). Conclusion: Within the limitations of the study, it can be safely deduced that a positive relationship exists between the hematological parameters and severity of chronic periodontal disease, suggesting that long-standing chronic periodontitis may lead to the development of signs of anemia.

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Introduction: School teachers play a vital role in the overall development of a child. They can be used to combat diseases of a preventable nature as alternate personnel in primary health care. With proper knowledge and oral health practices, they can contribute to the health education of children and act as role models for the general community at large. Aims: To assess and compare the knowledge and practices regarding oral health among school teachers in rural and urban areas in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Materials and Methods: A questionnaire consisting of 15 close-ended questions on oral heath knowledge and practices was formulated and distributed among 200 school teachers in rural and urban areas in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. The data obtained were subjected to statistical analysis using SPSS software version 17, and Chi-square test was used to assess the differences in the proportions for various questions. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The school teachers in both rural and urban areas had limited knowledge on oral health. The extent of knowledge and oral hygiene practices among the urban school teachers was found to be comparatively higher than those of the rural school teachers. Further, 11% of the urban school teachers and 53% of the rural school teachers did not discuss oral hygiene practices with their students (P < 0.001). Conclusions: The school teachers in both rural and urban areas had limited knowledge on oral health. The extent of knowledge and oral hygiene practices among the urban school teachers was found to be comparatively higher than those of the rural school teachers.

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Background: The majority of victims of domestic violence sustain maxillofacial injuries. Dental professionals can play a vital role in preventing violence against women, helping identify abuse early, providing victims with the necessary treatment, and referring women to appropriate care. Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the level of knowledge, attitude, and behavior regarding domestic violence among dental health practitioners in India. Materials and Methods: The authors surveyed a random sample of 106 dental health practitioners using a pretested, structured, and validated questionnaire to evaluate their knowledge, attitude, and behavior regarding domestic violence. Survey items were developed based on the domestic violence and health-care literatures. Collected data were subjected to statistical analysis using Chi-square test, and P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Sixty-four percent of the responding dentists believed that it is not their responsibility to screen patients for abuse; 7.5% never screened for abuse, even when signs of abuse were present; and 34.9% did not have enough time in their practice to raise the issue of domestic violence. The majority of respondents believed that domestic abuse should be a private matter and asking about abuse is an invasion of privacy. Female respondents' attitude toward domestic violence was more positive when compared to the males. Conclusion: The level of knowledge regarding domestic violence among the respondents was insufficient. The findings of this study strongly recommend that this issue be included in the undergraduate dental education curriculum to improve the health care and assistance provided to the victims of abuse.

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Background: Professionalism is a broad competency needed by dentists to act effectively and efficiently. It is seen as a central part of both undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) curricula. Aims: This study aimed to assess the attitude and perceptions of dental students toward professionalism and the influence of gender on the same. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out in four different dental colleges of Bengaluru city. A stratified random sampling technique was employed to select a sample of 480 dental students. The Professional Assessment Scale was used to assess professionalism. It is a 22-item questionnaire which is divided into three domains, namely, empathy and humanism, professional development and relationship, and professional responsibility domains. The students responded on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. The data collected were analyzed using SPSS software version 14.0. Chi-square test, independent Student's t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson's correlation were performed. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The mean overall Professional Assessment Scale scores were 93.12 ± 10.35, 97.41 ± 8.59, and 94.42 ± 10.06 for UGs, interns, and PGs, respectively, and these associations were statistically significant (P < 0.001). No significant gender differences were observed in the overall mean scores. Conclusions: The study concluded that all the participants possessed at least some elements of professionalism; recognizing these concerns and integrating them into professional educational programs can result in a better and more supportive health-care service for the public.

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Background: Tobacco-use shows a clear and continual increase with decreasing wealth quintiles. Street vendors are an integral part of the Indian economy, offering potpourri of readily available, inexpensive goods or services in public spaces since time immemorial. Aim: The current study explores tobacco-related knowledge, attitude, and behavior among street food vendors in New Delhi. Materials and Methods: An interview-based questionnaire survey was conducted among food vendors, using prevalidated tool. Apart from demography, 15-item assessed knowledge, attitude, and awareness on tobacco use and control for 2 months. Tobacco usage history was assessed on a 9-item checklist for the users. A total of 147 vendors around a tertiary care public hospital in Central Delhi, who agreed to participate in the study constituted the study sample. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 21. Gender differences for the same were ranked and tested for a significant difference using the Mann–Whitney test. P < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: The majority of the subset of this sample (n = 127) were found to be tobacco users in either forms (smoke, smokeless, or both). Eighty-seven (68.5%) of the vendors reported the initiation of tobacco use between 18–25 years and 61 (48.03%) participants admitted the morning smoke/dip as most difficult to give up. All of them were aware about the harmful systemic effects of tobacco. Around 66% of the study participants were aware of the existing tobacco legislations in relation to minors and public places. Conclusions: In the current study, most of the food vendors, although aware, were found to be tobacco users. This group constitutes as important socially relevant spot that need rigorous monitoring. Further studies need to collect nationwide data and take effective steps in defining these sites as tobacco-free.

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Background: Students undertaking professional courses such as medical, dental, and engineering are subjected to higher stress resulting in psychological problems such as depression and anxiety. This may be attributed to various factors such as academic, social events, health-related, and personal issues. Aim: This study aims to assess and compare professional environmental stress between dental and engineering students in Bhilai, Chhattisgarh. Methodology: A Modified Dental Environmental Stress Survey Questionnaire comprising 24 questions was pretested and administered among 316 students (115 dental and 201 engineering) to compare the professional environmental stress across stressor domains such as academic performance, faculty relations, personal issues, and professional identity. Descriptive statistics and independent sample t-test were applied using IBM Corporation SPSS version 23 program (New York, USA). P ≤ 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: Final year dental students reported higher stress than third year students with mean scores 34.91 ± 4.55 and 32.34 ± 5.36, respectively (P < 0.01). Final year engineering students experienced higher stress than third year students with mean scores 31.84 ± 4.29 and 29.86 ± 4.14, respectively (P < 0.01). Dental students reported higher stress than engineering students with mean scores 33.66 ± 5.10 and 30.78 ± 4.31, respectively (P < 0.01). Conclusion: This study gives the glimpse of factors creating stressful environment among the two science fields, the elimination of which will result in higher productivity and student-friendly environment for higher studies. The results were indicating that the intervention is necessary for psychological well-being of the students. Henceforth effective means of reducing stress should be explored together with determining emphatic methods of coping with the tensions.

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Background: The dental and medical practitioners are required to continuously update their knowledge and skills with respect to new diagnostic and treatment modalities to provide the patients with optimum treatment needed. Owing to a large amount of advances, it is almost impossible for dental and medical practitioners to keep track and be aware of all the updates. Aim: The aim of this study is to assess and compare the knowledge, attitude, and perceived barriers toward evidence-based practice (EBP) among dental and medical academicians and private practitioners in Pune city. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among dental academicians (n = 150) and private practitioners (n = 150); medical academicians (n = 150) and private practitioners (n = 150) in Pune city. Data were collected using self-administered, pretested, validated, close-ended, structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using unpaired t-test and analysis of variance using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (Version 21.0). Results: The mean knowledge score of dental academicians, dental private practitioners, medical academicians, and medical private practitioners was 4.13±1.38, 3.03 ± 1.99, 4.94 ± 1.58, and 3.033 ± 1.99, respectively. A statistically significant difference between the mean knowledge score of dental academicians was seen as compared to the other three groups (P < 0.001). The attitude of dental and medical professionals toward EBP was positive. The important barriers to its use included lack of available time and lack of application of evidence in patients. Conclusions: It was found that significant proportion of respondents had inadequate knowledge of EBP; therefore, formal training and reinforcement are required.

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Context: Edentulism is a handicap that affects the quality of life and nutrition. Tooth loss leads to functional impairment at the level of the orofacial system, significantly interfering with chewing, swallowing and speech, as well as to temporomandibular joint dysfunction, disorders of intermaxillary relation, and facial physiognomy. Aim: The aim of the study was to explore variables that influence self-reported oral health and denture satisfaction in partially and completely edentulous patients using oral health impact profile for edentulous (OHIP-EDENT). Materials and Methods: A hospital-based study was carried out on the patient's age ranged from 30 to 70 years in the dental college who had been treated with complete dentures and removable partial denture using convenience sampling method. Prevalidated questionnaire consisting of OHIP-EDENT was self-administered to all the study participants. The information about the appetite, perceived general and oral health, and satisfaction from the dentures was recorded using a 4-point Likert scale. Data were collected, entered, and analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. One-way ANOVA was performed to test for comparison between different denture groups. P < 0.05 shows statistically significant difference. Results: When the mean of denture satisfaction level was calculated between different denture group and different domains of OHIP-EDENT, there was no difference found in level of denture satisfaction between different denture groups, i.e., overall denture satisfaction mean in Group 1 was 2.18 ± 0.32, Group 2 has 2.23 ± 0.36, Group 3 has the mean of 2.18 ± 0.42, Group 4 has 2.23 ± 0.67, and P value was 0.810 which shows nonsignificant difference. Conclusion: The results of the present study suggest that the poor self-perceived satisfaction among denture wearers affect their quality of life.

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Background: The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic probably represents the greatest public health problem in India and the world today. Education and awareness of the society forms an integral part of the global effort to prevent and control the spread of AIDS. Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the levels of knowledge, attitude, and practice toward HIV/AIDS among various schoolgoing children, teachers, and parents in urban and rural areas of Mangalore, Karnataka. Materials and Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted among a sample of 1535 respondents comprising students, teachers, and parents associated with three rural and two urban schools, by means of a structured questionnaire encompassing knowledge, opinion/attitudes, and practices related to HIV/AIDS. Descriptive and inferential statistics have been applied. Inferential statistics included independent sample t-tests, one-way ANOVA, and Chi-square test. Results: The results suggest a considerable difference in the levels of awareness among the urban and rural population. Furthermore, teachers display significantly greater knowledge about HIV/AIDS, followed by parents and then students. Based on the knowledge scores, the sample population was divided into three categories as follows: high, medium, and low. Nearly 90% of the teachers have high level of knowledge whereas only 40% of parents and 14% of students display high-level knowledge. The results also suggest that urban and rural respondents have acquired knowledge from different sources regarding HIV/AIDS. While friends are the main source of information for the urban respondents, the rural sample draws their knowledge from newspapers and TV. Conclusion: The study suggests that despite the various government-aided programs for HIV/AIDS awareness among schoolgoing children, there still exists a significant difference in the knowledge and awareness between rural and urban populations. The study notes that a sizeable number of children attending rural government schools still lack adequate knowledge about HIV/AIDS.

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Background: There are studies about anxiety and depression among medical students well narrated in literature. However, limited studies have been reported among dental students. Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the association between anxiety and depression with personality traits, type of education exposure, and their effect on coping strategies among dental students. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study was carried out among undergraduate dental students. Questions were related to the consumption of alcohol, smoking, chewing gums, and chocolates. Validated questionnaires such as the Hospital and Anxiety Scale and Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-A Scale were used for evaluating anxiety and depression and personality traits, respectively. The statistical analysis was done using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (version 20.0). Chi-square test, Student's t-test, and Pearson's correlation coefficient were used for analysis, and the level of significance was set at P < 0.05. Results: The results showed that males in nonclinical years (3.81 ± 1.18) and females in clinical years (4 ± 0.85) were more extrovert than their counterparts, whereas males and females in clinical years were more psychotic than males (3.26 ± 0.45) and females (3.03 ± 0.84) in nonclinical years. It was found that females in clinical years were more anxious and depressed than their counterparts. When extraversion was correlated with anxiety and depression, a negative correlation (-0.05,-0.63) was seen which was statistically significant for depression (P = 0.01), whereas a positive correlation was seen when psychoticism was correlated with anxiety (0.16, P = 0.61) and depression (0.5, P = 0.02). Among the total participants, a majority consumed chocolates as a coping strategy. Conclusion: It was observed that many dental students who were in their clinical years had more anxiety and depression as compared to their nonclinical peers which could be due to their personality traits. Interventions should be targeted to deal with these problems.

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Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a syndrome not only to deal with by the clinician, but also to understand the social implications with proper magnitude. Aim: To assess the knowledge and attitude regarding HIV/AIDS patients among dental students in Thodupuzha, Kerala. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out on 341 dental students studying at a dental college in South Kerala, India. The students completed a predesigned self-administered questionnaire assessing the knowledge, attitude, and willingness to treat HIV/AIDS patients. SPSS software version 20 was used for the analysis. The data were analyzed using Student's t-test and analysis of variance. P < 0.01 was considered statistically significant. Results: More than half of the students (58.67%) had positive knowledge. There was a significant difference in knowledge score between the first-, second-, third-, and final-year students (P < 0.001). The favorable attitude score was reported among 22.22% of the study participants. There was no significant difference in the attitude of the students between the 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd years, whereas significant difference was observed between students of final year and remaining batches (P < 0.001). Conclusions: The findings suggest that, although the students had adequate knowledge about HIV/AIDS, their attitude toward this group of people was not favorable.

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Background: Temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) have been recognized as common orofacial conditions which cause considerable pain. Apart from dental caries and periodontal diseases, TMDs are becoming significant ailment affecting individuals due to their magnitude and impact on individuals. Few studies have examined the impact of TMDs on oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) in adolescents, especially in the Indian context. Aim: To assess the factors affecting the impact of TMDs on OHRQoL among 12 to 15-year-old schoolchildren in Mangalore. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among 12 to 15-year-old schoolchildren in Mangalore. Signs and symptoms of TMDs and parafunctional habits were analyzed using a screening questionnaire recommended by the American Academy of Orofacial Pain. OHRQoL was measured by the 16-item version of Children Perception Questionnaire (CPQ_11-14). Malocclusion was also assessed using Dental Aesthetic Index (DAI). Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software, version 14 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Chi-square test and step-wise multiple logistic regression test were employed. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: TMDs showed statistically significant association with OHRQoL among the schoolchildren (P < 0.05). Parafunctional habits and malocclusion were also significantly associated with both TMDs and OHRQoL among the study participants. Multivariate analysis found few parafunctional habits and malocclusion to be the significant predictors for both TMDs and OHRQoL (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Parafunctional habits, malocclusion, and TMDs had statistically significant association with OHRQoL. Parafunctional habits and malocclusion were found to be significant predictors for both TMDs and OHRQoL. TMDs and the associated factors have an impact on the psychosocial functioning of the children. This study emphasizes the importance of OHRQoL assessment for evaluating TMD patients because it can have a substantial impact on functional, emotional and psychologic aspects, thus negatively affecting the OHRQoL of children.

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