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Background & Objective: Educational promotion requires improved designing and enhancement of the quality of education. The present study aimed to compare the oral and maxillofacial medicine course in the undergraduate dental curriculum of Iran and some other countries. Material & Methods: In this descriptive comparative study, some dental schools were selected from the United States, Canada, Australia, and Switzerland (one from each country) according to the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) ranking. All topics related to oral tissue and systemic diseases with oral manifestations were extracted from the content of the courses offered in the respective dental schools. Additionally, all mentioned topics were gathered from nationwide curricula of dental schools in Iran and the UK. The collected data were analyzed based on Bereday's comparative method in the following four steps: description, interpretation, juxtaposition, and comparison. Results: The collected data from each curriculum (description) were analyzed (interpretation), tabulated (juxtaposition), and compared (comparison) to find the similarities and differences. The highest similarity was found in sequence of offered courses between Iran and Pennsylvania dental schools. Differences were mainly related to the sequence of chapter titles in different courses and method of instruction. The Australia's Queensland dental school had the highest difference with Iran's curriculum since it does not offer an independent course on oral medicine. Additionally, Iran and Australia's Queensland dental schools do not have a free discussion course on clinical scenarios. Conclusion: The method of instruction and diversity of the taught topics are responsible for the differences in educational curricula of different countries regarding the oral medicine course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background & Aim: Adherence of dentists to the principles of professional ethics and decision-making based on this framework guarantees the health of patients. The purpose of this research was to investigate the moral skills of dental students in the clinical course in 1402. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study of professional ethics indicators based on the Persian version of the "Moral Skills Inventory" questionnaire, whose validity and reliability were proven by Afshar et al., in 283 general students (semesters 6 to 12) of the Faculty of Dentistry, Islamic Azad University of Medical Sciences, Tehran. was evaluated. The data was collected by a 40-question questionnaire and self-reported by the students, and the data analysis was done using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and multiple linear regression. Results : Of the 283 students examined, 52.7% were male and 47.3% were female. The average age of the students was 25.44 ± 3.27 years and their average GPA was 15.91 ± 1.26. The overall score of moral skills was 38.10±6.65, and the highest moral skills obtained included sensitivity, integrity, courage, and moral reasoning, respectively. The results showed that moral integrity was significantly higher in females than in males (P=0.013). ) and in males, moral reasoning has a higher score than females (P=0.048). Also, a positive and significant relationship was seen between academic grade and moral sensitivity (P=0.007). Conclusion: The students' professional moral skills were below the average level. Revision of the dental curriculum in the field of ethics, longitudinal training of professional ethics and the use of group training based on clinical scenarios can be effective in improving students' ethical skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Community-based dental education (CBDE) has been an essential advancement in dental education in recent decades, enhancing it in many aspects. This study aimed to determine the characteristics and improvements of CBDE in dental schools in Iran. Methods: In the present descriptive study, an electronic questionnaire, including 18 "yes/no", "multiple choice", and "short answer" questions about the nature and extent of CBDE and students' experience in CBDE, was used. In early 2021, the questionnaires were mailed to the deans of all 43 dental schools in Iran under the supervision of the Council for Dental Education of the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education. Reminder calls were made after 6 and 12 weeks. Dental schools that did not follow the CBDE program were excluded. The responses were analyzed descriptively. Results: Thirty-six dental schools completed the questionnaire (response rate: 84%). Seventeen schools (47%) reported having CBDE in their dental program. Sites lacking a well-equipped dental setting were the most used out of all extramural sites. The number of weeks dedicated to CBDE ranged between 1 and 20 (median: 4). The most common dental procedures practiced in extramural sites were pediatric dentistry (100%), restorative dentistry (71%), and dental examination (59%). The student-to-supervisor ratio in CBDE ranged between 3 and 15 (median: 5). In most schools (65%), the staff involved in directing CBDE were Community Oral Health PhDs. Conclusions: An increasing number of Iranian dental schools have integrated CBDE into their undergraduate dental curriculum. The characteristics and extent of this educational strategy vary widely among dental schools. CBDE can be more effective by making positive changes in dental programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim: Early diagnosis and referral of patients with oral cancer can help reduce mortality, and given that dentists are usually the first group to see oral lesions, it is therefore in an ideal position for early cancer screening. the aim of this study was to investigate the knowledge and attitude of clinical students of Yazd Dental School about oral cancer in the academic year 1300-1499. Methods and material: This descriptive _ croos sectional study was performed By census method on 160 students of 7 to 12 academic semester of Yazd dental school. The questionnaire included demographic information including age, sex, academic semester and average, and questions about knowledge and attitudes about oral cancer. Data were entered into SPSS23 and analyzed using ANOVA, T-TEST. Result: The mean score of knowledge and attitude was 4.85 ± 2.88 out of 10 points and 39.53 ± 4.19 out of 50 points. Knowledge had a significant relationship with age and academic year (p=0.034, P=0.05) but had no significant relationship with gender, and average 0.05 and attitude had no significant relationship with any of the variables. Conclusion: Students' knowledge and attitude about oral cancer is insufficient and there is a greater need for education in this field, so a review of the curriculum and more practical experience to improve education and approaches to change attitudes should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim: Better and higher adaptation of students to the college environment can have a significant impact on the academic performance of individuals and ultimately their academic progress. The purpose of this research is to investigate the personality traits that affect the academic adjustment of dental students in Tehran Islamic Azad University of Medical Sciences in 2021-2022. Material and Methods: This descriptive research was conducted on randomly selected students. Two questionnaires were used: 1: Anderson academic adjustment 2: HEXACO 6-factor model. The questionnaires also contained demographic information such as (age, sex, year of education, marital status). Kruskal-Wallis test was used to investigate the relationship between academic adjustment and subgroups of personality traits, and the role of variable factors was determined by regression analysis. All calculations were done using SPSS software version 26. Results: The average academic adjustment score among 250 participating students was 34.3 ± 2.582. The average score of honesty-humility, excitability, extroversion, pleasantness, openness to experience, and conscientiousness personality traits were obtained as 11.97, 10.19, 13.49, 10.40, 13.55, and 13.85 respectively. There was a positive and significant relationship between personality subgroups, extroversion and conscientiousness with compatibility, and between personality subgroups, excitability and agreeableness, there was an inverse and significant relationship with compatibility (p<0.05). Conclusion: It seems, status of academic adjustment for dental students of Tehran Islamic Azad University was suitable Extraverted and dutiful had more academic adjustment and excited and negotiable ones had less adjustments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim: With increasing concerns over the stochastic effects of x-ray radiation in dental radiography, effective education of dental students in this field is important. According to studies, educational softwares enhance learning, therefore the aim of this study was to develop an educational software for dental radiation protection and to compare its effectiveness against classic lectures in Islamic Azad University, Tehran Dental branch. Material and Methods: The study was exploratory in the first stage and a clinical trial in the second. Software was developed based on ADA guideline, using ScreenRecorder and MultimediaBuilder. 46 dental students who have never received any education on dental radiation protection were divided into control (N=22) and test (N=24) groups which have been matched based on the GPA and VARK test results. The test group used the software, while the control group attended a lecture. Students’ learning rates were evaluated by using 2 identical 10-question multichoice tests taken immediately and after two weeks. The results were analyzed in SPSS25 using the Mann-U-Whitney test, independent samples t-test, and Pearson's chi-squared test. Results: Educational software was developed successfully. In both exams, the mean score in the test group was higher than that in the control group by a statistically significant difference (p<0.001). The mean scores of test group and control group were 8.91±1.31 and 6.13±1.67 in the first exam and 6.79±1.69 and 4.90±2.09 in the second one respectively. Conclusion: Multimedia educational software can improve learning of principles and methods of dental radiation protection in dental students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the students' attitudes before and after the flipped classroom, and the effectiveness of this method to promote the students' lateral cephalograms tracing abilities, students' satisfaction and their final exam scores. Materials and Methods: This is a single‐group quasi‐experimental research conducted on dental students of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (SUMS), Iran in 2019. The intervention was carried out in a blended learning approach with the flipped classroom model. Thirty‐five fourth‐year dental students participated in a flipped classroom held during a semester for the lateral cephalograms tracing course. The students were provided with the educational materials before the class time through multimedia learning tools and the class time was devoted to discussions. The students were asked to fill out four questionnaires (pretest/posttest attitudes, pretest/posttest self‐assessments of theoretical knowledge and practical skills in cephalograms, posttest of satisfaction from quality of the course, and posttest of students' views about effectiveness of blended learning tools) and final exam scores of students. Results: Students' attitudes toward e‐Learning were improved after the flipped classroom and the quality of this method was acceptable to the students (p <.001). Their self‐assessment of theoretical knowledge and practical skills were promoted (p <.001). While all blended learning tools averaged more than the cut‐off‐point, short lecture (5.11 ± 0.98) and live feedback (4.98 ± 1.07) were considered to be the most efficient interactive tools. Conclusion: It seems that the flipped classroom has a positive effect on increasing students' knowledge, attitude, and satisfaction. In general, this method of learning seems to be favored by dental students. Clinical Significance: The findings showed that blended learning had a positive effect on increasing knowledge, performance, and satisfaction among dental students. Therefore, blended learning as a reliable method might be used in training dental students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: A longer life and the growing population of older adults are the achievements of the 20th century. The World Health Organization considers ageism an important barrier to age‐appropriate care for older adults. The aim of this study was to translate and validate the ageism scale for dental students in Iran (ASDS‐Persian). Methods: The 27‐question ASDS was translated from English into Persian (Farsi) and completed by 275 dental students from two universities in Isfahan, Iran. Principal component analysis (PCA), internal consistency reliability, and discriminant validity were estimated. Furthermore, in this study we conducted an analytical cross sectional study among dental students of Isfahan province (two universities) with the aim of proving data regarding their ageism beliefs and attitudes. Results: PCA revealed an 18‐question, four‐component scale with acceptable validity and reliability. The four components are 'barriers/concerns on dental treatment in older adults', 'opinions about older adults', 'practitioner's perspective,' and 'older adults' perspective'. Conclusion: This preliminary validation of ASDS‐Persian produced a new 18‐question scale with four components with acceptable validity and reliability. This instrument could be further tested in larger samples in Farsi speaking countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Academic procrastination is a common phenomenon among medical science students. This issue can negatively affect the students' academic performance. The aim of this study was to investigate perfectionism and anxiety as potential predictors of academic procrastination in medical and dental students. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among medical and dental students of a public medical sciences university in the south of Iran. Students were assessed using the procrastination assessment scale for students (PASS), Tehran multidimensional perfectionism scale (TMPS), and anxiety subscale of the general health questionnaire (GHQ). Predictors of academic procrastination were evaluated using multiple regression analysis with adjustments made for gender and academic semester. Results: A total of 176 medical and 79 dental students participated in the study. None of the perfectionism components were predictors of academic procrastination. However, anxiety was a significant predictor of academic procrastination in the total sample of students (standardized β = 0.404, p < 0.001), as well as dental (standardized β = 0.356, p < 0.001) and medical (standardized β = 0.478, p < 0.001) students. Anxiety and academic procrastination were both negatively correlated with students' grade point averages. Conclusions: The findings of this study suggest that anxiety, as opposed to perfectionism, has a more significant influence on academic procrastination among medical and dental students. Interventions aimed at lowering anxiety may be beneficial for reducing academic procrastination, thereby enhancing the academic performance of the students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: With the advancement of technology, the use of old teaching methods has been replaced by new and more efficient methods such as podcasts, to save the time of students and professors and to provide the opportunity for these two groups to interact more with be given to each other in the classroom. This method has advantages such as lower cost, the possibility of content courses, downloading content, and learning courses remotely. This study aimed to investigate the other benefits of this method as well as the level of students' satisfaction. Materials and Methods: In this study, which was a randomized, single-blind educational trial, the students at Dental School of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences were divided into two control and intervention groups (via a random number table), with 37 persons in each group. The classroom was held traditionally for both groups in 3 sessions and the podcast file was provided to the intervention group at the end of the session. Then, a test was taken from both groups at the second and third sessions. The students' answers were evaluated and each score was determined out of 5. The scores of this test were compared in the intervention and control groups. Finally, a questionnaire was provided to students to evaluate their satisfaction. The test scores were analyzed by independent T-test. Results: In this study, with 74 participants, the average age was 22.47±0.85, and 43% of the participants were male. The scores of the two tests taken out of five were 4.86±0.10 in the intervention group and 4.04±0.94 in the control group, and a significant statistical difference was observed in favor of the intervention group (P=0.02). The average satisfaction of students regarding this educational method was 29.4 out of 50. After taking into account the confounding effect of age, the investigated intervention did not affect the average score of the students' questionnaire (P=0.031). Conclusion: According to the findings of the present study, podcasts could be effective in students' learning and students had a positive attitude towards this method. The results of this study can be used as a feedback to the educational committees of the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The academic failure of students is one of the major problems of higher education centers in the country, which not only wastes time and running costs of these centers, but also causes mental-psychological, family and social problems for students. The purpose of this study was to investigate and explain the various causes of academic failure in dental students of Arak city. Methods: The present study was of a descriptive-analytical type, which was conducted with the participation of 120 dental students of Arak Medical Sciences. Sampling was by census method and all students were included in the study. The data collection tool of this study was a questionnaire containing demographic characteristics, questions related to various factors of academic failure in students. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical methods (frequency, mean, standard deviation, Pearson correlation coefficient and linear regression) in SPSS software version 22. Results: The sample consisted of 30 individuals (10 males and 20 females) with generalized anxiety disorder, selected purposefully and randomly assigned to a treatment group based on virtual reality and mindfulness (15 individuals) and a control group (15 individuals). Pre-test, post-test, and follow-up cortisol levels were measured, and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale (GAD-7) was used as the entry criterion. Subsequently, the experimental group received an eight-session, 17-minute weekly treatment based on virtual reality and mindfulness. Participants in this group, while immersed in a virtual environment, watched 360- degree virtual reality videos, "Walking by the Beach" and "Pebbles in the Lake," accompanied by mindfulness audio contemplation, "Being Present and Breathing," and "Wise Mind," using a VR headset and VR-ARBOX. The control group received no treatment. Conclusions: According to the findings of this research, it was found that factors such as student's individual characteristics, inappropriate educational environment, inappropriate family environment and dealing with non-curricular issues had a significant effect on the event of students' academic decline, so paying attention to these factors in the design and implementation University educational programs can play an effective role in avoiding academic failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: Knowing study and learning strategies is a basic step for educational interventions, especially in the field of medical sciences. This study was conducted with the aim of determining the study and learning strategies in the dental clinical course students of Islamic Azad University of Tehran in the academic year of 2021-2022. Material and Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on all students from the 5th to 12th semesters of the faculty of dentistry of the Islamic Azad University of Tehran (n=141). The Third English edition of the study and learning strategies Instruments(LASSI) questionnier was completed by the students after cross- culture adaptation and confirming its face validity, quantitative content validity and construct validity and reliability was observed by test – retest. Data analysis was done using SPSS software and descriptive statistics, regression and Pearson correlation coefficient. Result: The average score of study and learning strategies in dental students was 123.05±9.00 out of 240 scores with a minimum of 104 and a maximum of 148. The highest average score of study and learning strategies was related to the areas of concentration, selection of the main idea, and processing, respectively. The lowest average score of study and learning strategies was related to the fields of attitude, motivation and anxiety, respectively. The average score of study and learning strategies in dental students had no significant relationship with gender and marriage of students (p<0.05). But there was a direct and significant relationship between the average score of study and learning strategies with age (p<0.05). Also, there was a direct and significant relationship between the average score of study and learning strategies and academic performance (p=0.048, r=0.350). Conclusion: The average score of study and learning strategies in dental students indicated moderate scores revision. It seems that dental students need counseling and guidance in some areas of study and learning strategies, especially in the areas of anxiety, attitude and motivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Dentists by their professional knowledge of prevention have a key role in providing a positive role model for oral health‐promoting behaviours. We aimed to investigate the health behaviour of Iranian senior dental students in terms of oral self‐care and tobacco use during a 10‐year period to assess their preparedness to act as role models for health‐promoting behaviours. Materials and Methods: The study was performed in six dental schools selected through stratified cluster random sampling to have a representative sample of all dental schools in Iran. Data were collected in four occasions in 2005, 2008, 2011 and 2015. Senior dental students (N = 1188) were invited to voluntarily complete a self‐administered anonymous questionnaire about their oral self‐care and tobacco use. Recommended tooth‐brushing habit (RTH) was defined as at least twice a day brushing with fluoridated toothpaste. Three separate questions about cigarette, pipe and waterpipe use were applied to assess the students' reported use of tobacco. Results: The response rate was 81%. Female students reported more frequently RTH than males (p <.001). The reported RTH was more prevalent among nonsmokers. In 2005, 2008, 2011 and 2015, 22.5%, 26%, 28.5% and 24.6% of the students reported smoking, respectively. The trend of reported smoking had the least variation among female students. This was true also for male students regarding RTH. Conclusion: The status and trend of oral self‐care and tobacco use among Iranian dental students call for more emphasis on adopting health‐promoting behaviours during dental education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In recent years, Internet and social media technology use have emerged as an integral tool of human society, and the evolution of technological integration, cyberspace, and web-technology has become a common practice in educational institutions. Internet usage among students has played an indispensable role in learning behavior; however, the excessive usage of the internet and social media leads to internet addiction. This original study has performed a focalized scrutiny on revealing relationships between internet addiction and associated factors among the students of medicine, dentistry, and pharmaceutical departments. Methods: This descriptive and analytical study recruited medical students from the Self-governing Education Incubator of Kermanshah. This survey distributed questionnaires among the respondents' three departments, and this statistical data reported on 420 valid responses of the respondents. They represent first and second-semester medical students of the academic year 2017–2018. The study selected medical students by applying Cochran's Sample Size Formula through Stratified Random Sampling and cross-sectional research design. The survey has utilized a demographic questionnaire of Young's Internet Addiction Test (IAT) for the data collection. The study analyzed received data by using SPSS version 23 and performed the descriptive statistics, and analytical statistics (t-test and ANOVA). Results: The results of the present study established that the majority of subjects were female students (53.3%), and the average age was 23.84 ± 2.14, including the students of all departments. Besides, findings specified that the overall mean and standard deviation scores were 3.34 and ±0.88. Internet addiction revealed mean and the standard deviation score measured for all students 3.29 ± 0.73, 3.17 ± 0.92, and 3.57 ± 0.64 correspondingly. The survey results illustrated that medical students' internet addiction substantially correlated with demographic variables, such as age, marital status, the field of study, academic term, significant time of consuming the internet, the key reason of utilizing the internet, and daily usage of the internet (p <.05). Conclusion: The results of the study specified that 25% of medical students showed internet addiction. The students are increasingly using the internet, and it has penetrated among students. The design and implementation of adequate educational programs and the application of internet-based efficiency interventions are essential for both knowledge acquisition and medical students' healthy behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Today, the impact of oral health on indicators of quality of life is of great importance. As few studies have evaluated dental students who are future dentists of a society, this study was performed to assess the impact of awareness on oral health-related quality of life on first, third- and sixth-year Shahid Beheshti dental students in 2017-2018. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional and analytical study was conducted on 220 Shahid Beheshti dental students. The required data was collected by using a sociodemographic questionnaire (including gender, academic year indicating level of awareness, and GPA) and Persian version of oral health-related quality of life questionnaire, OHIP-14. The questionnaires' scores were compared by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) or Welch's t-test. Results: The average total score of OHIP-14 questionnaire in dental students was 8.26 (SD=7.41). A significant relationship between the academic year and oral health-related quality of life was not noticed except in "Psychological Discomfort" domain where oral healthrelated quality of life deteriorated with an increase in the academic year (p=0.0001). Conclusion: Oral health-related quality of life in dental students did not change significantly with an increase in the academic year except in "Psychological Discomfort" domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Oral health in pregnant and lactating women can affect maternal and child health. Dental treatments in this period should not have adverse effects on maternal and child health. This study was conducted to investigate the last-year dental students' knowledge of the prescription of analgesics and antibiotics for pregnant and lactating mothers in Isfahan city, Iran. Methods: A total of 104 last-year dental students of Khorasgan Islamic Azad University and Isfahan University of Medical Sciences were recruited in this descriptive-analytical study. They completed a 16-item questionnaire on the prescription of analgesics and antibiotics for pregnant and lactating mothers. Data were analyzed by SPSS (Version 22) statistical software(t-test). Results: The total mean score of students' knowledge was 9.02±1.91. The highest level of knowledge about the safest analgesic (acetaminophen) was reported for the pregnant patients so that 100% of them had correct information in this regard. Further, the lowest level of knowledge was found for the use of dexamethasone during lactation, as only 10.6% of respondents were able to provide a correct response in this regard. Conclusion: The dental students had average knowledge about the prescription of antibiotics and analgesics for pregnant and lactating patients. To prevent the possible risks for these patients, further information should be provided to dental students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: Musculoskeletal disorders are global problems and have a significant impact on quality of life. Studies show that the symptoms are shown in dental students before graduation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in dental students of mazandaran medical science university and its difference between right and left handed students. In duration of 2020 to 2021. Material and Methods: The current study is a cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study. The statistical population of this study was dental students in pre-clinic and clinic of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. In this study, the Nordic questionnaire was distributed among students. 133 dental students voluntarily participated in this study and 12 students were excluded according to the exclusion criteria; As a result, data analysis of questionnaires of 121 students was made. Descriptive statistics were reported using frequency and percentage. The data obtained from the questionnaires have been analyzed using SPSS 22 statistical software. Results: General prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders was 63.15 I. Most common discomfort during previous 12 month were related to neck (45.5%), shoulder (35.5%) and upper waist (39.9%). No significant relationship was present between sex and musculoskelat lisorders (p=0.89) No significant relationship was found between right handed/ left handed variables and musculoskeletal disorders (P-Value= 0.862). Conclusion: The prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among dental students is high. Prevalence measures and further educations must be provided in dental schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The aim of this study was to develop Dental Public Health (DPH) competencies and to assess the self‐perceived achievements of undergraduate students in regard to these competencies. Materials and Methods: In the first phase, by using the mixed method of the RAND‐UCLA model, a list of the proposed competencies was developed and validated based on three‐round expert consensus using both rating and group discussing method. In the second phase, 120 senior (final‐year) dental students were asked to determine their achievements based on the finalised list of competency statements on a 0–10 numerical scale. Descriptive statistical analysis was then performed using SPSS (version 22) to determine the mean score of the items and domains. Some background factors were also tested for any relationship. Result: After three rounds of implementing the RAND‐UCLA method, 31 statements in 10 domains were developed and validated. The mean total score of the self‐reported competency was 176.87 ± 52.4 amongst the recruited dental students with a range of 37 to 304. The highest mean ± sd score (7.7 ± 1.8) was found for the preventive oral health services field, whilst the lowest one (4.5 ± 2.3) was reported for understanding the components and functions of the health system. The average self‐reported scores of professional ethics and professionalism, evidence‐based practice and oral health determinants were also acceptable amongst them. Conclusion: The finalised competencies gained the consensus level of agreement and appropriateness by representatives of all DPH experts in the country. However, according to the dental students' self‐reports, they had moderate competencies in most cases. Therefore, content and applied methods of training and evaluation may need to be revised to support students' development. Also, the complementary evaluation method at real work setting is highly suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim. Oral hygiene is a quintessential part of our health. Effective oral hygiene training should be commenced from early childhood, and if completed, yields positive results in children. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of oral hygiene training on dental plaque index in 9-year-old children of Qazvin city, Iran. Methods. 119 students of third-grade elementary (65 girls and 54 boys) from government and private schools of Qazvin city participated. The dental plaque index of every participant was primarily recorded by Silness and Loe method. Students were trained by a dental student by face-to-face method, and after 2 weeks, dental plaque indices were recorded again for every individual. After index recording and coding, data analysis was done using SPSS version 21. Results. Results showed that the dental plaque index was statistically significantly different before and after training (p < 0.001). Conclusion. Based on the results of this study, students' motivation in addition to proper training, can have a significant impact on oral and dental health. Furthermore, this study shows that face-to-face training along with involving the individual in training and learning was seen as quite helpful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The students’ self-confidence level is a key factor affecting the success of endodontics learning. This study aimed to determine the confidence level of dental students who performing root canal treatment at Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences in 2021. Materials & Methods: In this cross-sectional study a questionnaire including demographic information, endodontic experience, attitude toward confidence in performing different stages of root canal treatment, and suggestions for improving the quality of endodontic education was distributed among 54 dentistry students from 5th and 6th-year during the last month of the academic semester. Data were analyzed using T-test, Pearson, and ANOVA tests (α = 0.05). Results: According to the results, of 49 dental students, 24.5% reported the first cases of root canal treatment to be tough. The lowest confidence was reported for finding all root canals in teeth with multiple root canals, preparing access cavity and understanding and managing root canal treatment risks. According to the results of chi-square analysis test, the total confidence score between 5th and 6th year students was not significantly different (p value = 0.648). Also, the relationship between general selfconfidence and students' self-confidence level was not seen (p value = 0.372). There was no significant relationship between the Confidence level and age, academic year, the difficulty level of the first endodontic treatment, and number of endodontic treatments (p value > 0.05). Conclusion: Students had lower self-confidence finding all the canals in multi-canal teeth, in properly handling the treatment risks, and preparing the access cavity. Endodontics training should also be improved by increasing clinical sessions and using recent advances in endodontics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Medical emergencies during dental treatment are likely to occur. The ability of a dentist to manage medical emergencies requires sufficient knowledge and information. The purpose of this study was to survey the level of knowledge of the undergraduate dental students of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences on medical emergencies. Materials & Methods: In the cross-sectional study in 2019, 60 senior dental students at the University of Medical Sciences of Isfahan were evaluated. A questionnaire was used for data collection with confirmed validity and reliability. Data was analyzed with correlation coefficients and independent t-test with level of significance at 0.05. Results: Participants' overall knowledge scores were 7.53 ± 2.58 out of 12. There wasn’t a significant difference between the knowledge of male and female students (p value = 0.72). Also this study revealed a relative relationship between students' medical emergencies score and their knowledge on emergencies (p value < 0.001, r = 0.48). Conclusion: The knowledge status of senior dental students on medical emergencies was not desirable. It is recommended that more educational content like theoretical classes and practical workshops should be considered for dental students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background & Aim: Dental students as a community model should have a positive attitude towards oral health, therefore the present study was conducted to investigate the knowledge, attitude and self-care behaviors of oral health among dental students in Yazd. Material and Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 198 dental students were randomly selected and completed a valid questionnaire consisting of four sections: demographic characteristics, questions about knowledge, attitude and practice regarding the diagnosis and prevention of caries. Data were analyzed using SPSS23 statistical software and Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis and Pearson correlation coefficients. Results: In this study, 79(41.1%) male students and 113(58.9%) female students participated. The mean age of students was 22.47±2.99 years. The mean score of students' knowledge was 30.25±4.91 out of 45 points, the mean score of attitude was 43.27±6.95 out of 56 points. There was a statistically significant relationship between the mean of knowledge score with age and educational level and the mean of knowledge and attitude scores with marital status (P)value<0.05). But the mean scores of students' knowledge, and attitude were not statistically significant with their gender, status and place of residence, their parents' occupation (P-value>0.05). Conclusion: Based on the results of the present study, students' knowledge, and attitude regarding preventive oral care were moderate. The effect of gender, status and place of residence, parents' occupation on students' knowledge, and attitude was not significant. But in married students, age group and higher education level, the level of knowledge was also higher. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim: Critical thinking is a skill on which learner can achieve teaching goal during an active mental process only after receiving key point from teacher . This valuable skill is not considered as it should be in dental students, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, when theoretical courses are held online therefore, the present study was conducted to evaluate the critical thinking skill of dental students of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences during virtual education. Materials and methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on dental students of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences in 1399-1400. Data collection tool was The California Form Critical Thinking Questionnaire consisted of 34 questions that were distributed online among 127 dental students. Collected data were entered into SPSS-21 statistical software and descriptive statistics, independent T-test and One-way analysis of variance were used to analyze the data. Results: 117 people participated in this study. The mean score of critical thinking in the present study population is 12.48±4.06 Therefore, the critical thinking skills of dental students are poor. The mean score of critical thinking and each of its dimensions is not significantly different between male and female students. Conclusion: It is thought that this skill has become weaker in students during the days of virtual education. Background and Aim: Critical thinking is a skill on which learner can achieve teaching goal during an active mental process only after receiving key point from teacher . This valuable skill is not considered as it should be in dental students, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, when theoretical courses are held online therefore, the present study was conducted to evaluate the critical thinking skill of dental students of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences during virtual education. Materials and methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on dental students of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences in 1399-1400. Data collection tool was The California Form Critical Thinking Questionnaire consisted of 34 questions that were distributed online among 127 dental students. Collected data were entered into SPSS-21 statistical software and descriptive statistics, independent T-test and One-way analysis of variance were used to analyze the data. Results: 117 people participated in this study. The mean score of critical thinking in the present study population is 12.48±4.06 Therefore, the critical thinking skills of dental students are poor. The mean score of critical thinking and each of its dimensions is not significantly different between male and female students. Conclusion: It is thought that this skill has become weaker in students during the days of virtual education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Occupational stress is prevalent in dentistry, affecting the professional quality of life and possibly reducing the quality of health care services. This study was conducted to determine the professional quality of life of dentists in Jiroft, located in South-East of Iran. Materials and methods: This descriptive-analytical study was conducted on all dentists of Jiroft in 2019. Demographic data and Stamm's Professional Quality of Life Questionnaire were used to collect information. The questionnaire has been translated and validated into Persian. Dimensions of quality of life, including compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue (burnout and secondary trauma stress), were examined using this questionnaire. Data was analyzed using SPSS 21 and t-test, ANOVA, chi-square, correlation, Tukey post hoc test, and regression was evaluated at the significant level of <=0.05. Results and discussion: The mean scores of dentists in Jiroft for satisfaction, compared to compassion satisfaction, burnout and secondary trauma stress were 39.98± 4.64 (out of 50), 10.86 ±4.26 (out of 25) and 23.97±5.91 (out of 50), respectively, most of the dentists recording an average level in all dimensions. There was no relationship between the studied factors and the professional quality of life dimensions, but only a significant relationship between dentists' self-assessment of their economic status compared to compassion satisfaction and secondary stress. Conclusions: The findings of this study showed that most dentists had an average level in all aspects of professional quality of life, including compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue (burnout and secondary trauma stress). Further studies on dentists and dental students can be effective in identifying the related factors and in planning to improve the professional quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: For dental students, communication skills are essential to effectively transfer the necessary information to the patient and meet the patient’s needs and expectations. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the patient communication skills of dental students at Islamic Azad university of Isfahan in 2021. Materials and Methods: In the present cross-sectional analytical study, an online standardized questionnaire DCCC (Dental consultation communication checklist) was provided to all clinical dental students applying a census sampling method. In total, from 248 clinical dental students, 230 students participated in the study (response rate=92.7%). The questionnaire included five dimensions of introduction, medical history, clinical examination, closure and patient. In order to determine the patient communication skills, its dimensions, and the association between patient communication skills and students’ demographic characteristics, friedman test, analysis of variance, independent t-test and a linear regression model were used for statistical analysis. Results: The mean score of total communication skills of the students (117.16±15.6) was above average which was obtained from the maximum score of 155. There was a significant difference between the dimensions of communication skills (P<0.001). The highest scores were assigned to the clinical examination, patient, medical history, introduction and closure, respectively. No significant relationship existed between the score of students' communication skills with gender (P=0.08), age (P=0.17), marital status (P=0.19), and educational background in psychology (P=0.07). No significant relationship revealed between the total score of communication skills (P=0.92) and its dimensions (introduction P=0.79, medical history P=0.90, clinical examination P=0.77, closure P=0.35, and patient P=0.85) with the students’ academic year. Conclusion: The total score of dental students’ communication skills and all its dimensions was above average. However, students reported poorer performance in dimensions of introduction and closure than the other dimensions. Therefore, it is recommended to design and implement educational interventions specially to improve the dimensions of introduction and closure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Quality of sleep and stress level can affect the health, capacity of learning, and academic performance of the students. This study aimed to investigate the association between stress and sleep quality with academic performance among undergraduate clinical dental students in Shiraz, Iran. Methods. This cross-sectional study was conducted during the second semester of the academic year 2020–2021 among clinical dental students at Shiraz Dental School, Iran. A total of 138 students completed Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and dental environment stress (DES) questionnaire. The grade point averages (GPAs) of the previous terms of the participants were also collected. Data analysis was performed using Kolmogorov–Smirnov test, the one-way ANOVA, post hoc Duncan's test, nonparametric Kruskal–Wallis H test, Wilcoxon–Mann–Whitney test, and the chi-squared test. The p values of less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results. Clinical dental students participated in this study experienced moderate levels of stress and poor sleep quality. Mean total DES and PSGI scores did not differ by sex, year of study, marital status, and place of residence (p values >0.05). Most of the students (52.9%) had moderate GPAs. A significant relationship was observed between sex and GPA as well as between place of residence and GPA (p values <0.05). No significant differences were found between DES total score or PSQI score and GPA categories (p values >0.05). A significant direct relationship between DES total score and PSQI score was observed (p < 0.05). Conclusion. Dental undergraduates in Shiraz, Iran, experienced moderate levels of stress and poor sleep quality. The results showed no significant difference between sleep quality or DES and academic achievement. However, a significant direct correlation was observed between sleep quality and dental environment stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: We aimed to determine the mental health and death anxiety among dental staff and students in school of dentistry during COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: It was a cross-sectional study among students (n = 300) and staff (n = 60) in School of dentistry in Ahvaz University of Medical Sciences during 2020. The instruments were a demographic questionnaire, Death Anxiety Scale, and Kessler Questionnaire. Data was analyze by using SPSS version 22, in all tests, the significance level was set at <0.05. Results: The mean age of dental students and personnel was 23.96 and 40.08 years, respectively. The mean scores of death anxiety were higher in dental staff (8.53) than students (6.02) and the mean scores of mental health status were higher in students (14.78) than personnel (9.18). This indicates that death anxiety was higher in Dental staff, while students were in better mental health status. The correlation coefficient between death anxiety and mental health status was 0.366 among students (p < 0.001), while it was 0.429 among dental staff (p < 0.001), showing a medium relationship between death anxiety and mental health in both groups. Conclusion: The overall findings represent a significant but contradictory relationship between mental health status and death anxiety among dental staff and students during the prevalence of COVID-19 pandemic. This suggests the impact of confounding factors in this area, which can be studied by future researchers and policy makers to design health promotion interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Professional ethics in any field of medical specialties lead to better communication between patient and doctor and ultimately improve the quality of health care and patient satisfaction will follow. So, we aimed to evaluate the professional communication skills in students before and after training in an attempt to improve the clinical skills in all students of medicine and dentistry. Materials & Methods: This quasi experimental study had 100 dental students from Isfahan University of Medical Sciences enrolled in the year 1395 before and after taking the course and were rated using valid and reliable questionnaires and then the scores were compared. The data was analysed via independent-t test and co-variance. P value = 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Based on the results of data analysis a difference between the level of students' knowledge before and after the lessons were observed. Moreover, the mean score for men and women after completing the course did not significantly differ. Based on the results of independent t test scores in men and women's clinical skills before taking the course, there was no significant difference (p value = 0.689). There was no significant relationship between other subscales and gender before and after training (p value = 0.2). Conclusion: According to the results of data analysis, the theoretical presentation of the course has improved students' perceptions of clinical skills. Therefore, taking into account the views of dental students is one of the necessary elements in improving the education and training of oral health care providers in the community in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Mental health and academic performance of students in the quality of dental education is very important to the learners in this field. Study aim: This study was designed to investigate the relationship between personality traits and distress tolerance with mental health and academic performance of dental students attending Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Iran. Methods: Seventy three dental students from Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Iran, participated in the present study. The sampling method was the census method. In this descriptive cross-sectional study, the Mental Health Questionnaire (GHQ), Distress Tolerance Questionnaire (DTS) and Five-Factor Personality Questionnaire (NEO) were used to assess the desired indicators and the total grade point average of students as a measure of their academic performance. Data was analyzed using Poisson regression estimators and descriptive statistics. Results: Study participants had a mean age of 22.42 years and 84.9% of them were single. In this study, the mean score was 23.84 (±11.90) for GHQ and 45.01 (±8.93) for DTS. There was no significant relationship between different variables and their dimensions and students' academic performance. Conclusion: Improving the mental health of dental students is very important and should be on the agenda of educational policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Internet as a communication tool is an essential component of daily life. Nowadays, problematic Internet use (PIU) has led to various psychosocial problems that can indirectly lead to oral diseases due to neglect of healthy behaviors. Also, college students are a large proportion of Internet users. The present study aimed to determine the association between problematic Internet use and oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) among medical and dental students. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study was conducted on medical and dental students in the first and second years of education (basic sciences courses) at the Golestan University of Medical Sciences, Iran, between January and July 2020. The data collection process was carried out in the following sequence: questionnaire on demographic characteristics (age, gender, marital status, academic field, and year); Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire (PIUQ); and Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14) questionnaire. Results: Among 268 medical and dental students, 171 students (63.81%) [95% confidence interval: 58.02%- 69.60%] had problematic Internet use. The mean PIU score in the first-year was significantly higher than the second-year students. In addition, 65% of single students and 25% of married subjects were dealing with PIU. The statistical difference between mean OHIP scores among PIU students (12.5 ± 2.9), with average Internet usage (7.39 ± 6.6), was significant. The Spearman correlation coefficient between PIU and OHIP was 0.309 and significant (P-value < 0.000001). It indicates that students with higher PIU showed higher OHIP scores. Conclusion: The present study showed that problematic Internet use was significantly associated with oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) among first and second-year medical and dental students. Thus, the students with problematic Internet use experienced a poorer oral health-related quality of life than average Internet users. Furthermore, appropriate preventive and interventional strategies need to be developed to encourage rational use of the Internet to protect the users' oral health, especially among medical and dental students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives This study aimed to investigate the impact of social media on people’s tendency toward aesthetic dental treatments in Iran. Methods This cross-sectional study was performed on 410 individuals, including dentists or dental students and laypeople, who were selected via convenience sampling. A questionnaire, consisting of sociodemographic characteristics, frequency of social media use, tendency toward aesthetic dental treatments, and factors affecting people’s decisions, was completed for data collection. This online questionnaire was created using the Porsline© website and posted on social media. The collected data were analyzed in SPSS version 21, using Chi-square test. A P-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results Of 410 participants, 157 (38.3%) were dentists or dental students. Only 38.2% of the participants in the dentist group were willing to receive aesthetic dental treatments, whereas laypeople were significantly more inclined to receive such treatments (69.2%) (P<0.001). Almost half of people who used social media platforms several times a day and also 71.8% of people who used social media once a day or less showed tendency toward aesthetic dental treatments (P=0.01). Conclusion Based on the results, the time spent on social media was not significantly associated with people's tendency to receive aesthetic dental treatments. Also, dentists were less interested in such treatments for themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: Lack of dentists' information about the diagnosis and treatment of endo-perio lesions is one of the main reasons for dental removing. Considering the importance of this issue, the present study aimed to investigate the knowledge and practice of senior dental students in Yazd about differentiation of endo-perio lesions and effective treatment of these lesions. Material and Methods: The present study was descriptive-cross-sectional. The instrument used in this study was a researcher-made and three-part questionnaire including: demographic information of students (age and sex), 14 questions that assessed student's knowledge about differential diagnosis of endo-perio lesions and 4 performance questions in this regard. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 17, Ttest, ANOVA statistical test and Pearson correlation coefficient. The significance level in this study was 0.05. Results: In this study, out of 52 students that participated, 23 (44.23%) were male and 29 (55.76%) females. The mean age of the samples was 25.19±2.09 with the age range of 23-36 years. On average, participants had 60.2% knowledge. There was a significant relationship between students' knowledge and age (P-value=0.028). There was no significant relationship between students' knowledge and sex (Pvalue=0.734), total GPA (P-value=0.237) and also between their performance and age (P-value=0.949), sex (P-value=0.061) and total GPA (P-value=0.284). Conclusion: According to the results of this study, the knowledge and practice of studied dental students regard diagnosis and treatment of endo-perio lesions was moderate. It is recommended that educational interventions and appropriate strategies be adopted to promote students' knowledge and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background & Aim: The diffused melanotic pigmentation of oral mucosa is referred to any kind of brownish to black diffused and flattened macular and patch in physiologic or pathologic form. This view is important in aesthetic terms, the perception of malignancy, and association with systemic diseases, especially the endocrine glands diseases. Little local studies have been carried out that have many shortcomings; and in this age group, no research has been done in Tehran; hence, we made a study aimed to determine the frequency of the diffused melanotic pigmentation of the oral mucosa and related factors in dental students of Islamic Azad University of Tehran in 2018-2019. Material and Methods: This Cross-Sectional fstudy was performed by cross sectional method. according to a pilot study, 788 subjects were selected and examined through sequential sampling method. The cases were diagnosed clinically. The studied relevant factors included age; sex; smoking, skin color, systemic, syndromic, genetic diseases, as well as inflammatory mucosal diseases (Lichen Planus), etc. After collecting data, the incidence of diffused melanotic pigmentation of oral mucosa was determined by the software spss (version 11), and the role of its related factors was determined by using Chi Square test and regression analysis. Results: The distribution of diffused melanotic pigmentation of oral mucosa among 788 dental students of Islamic Azad University was 28.4%. Pigmentation in men was more prevalent than in women. Dark skin color and smoking had a significant correlation with the incidence of pigmentation (p-value<0.01). Conclusion: the prevalence of diffused melanotic pigmentation of oral mucosa in dental students of Islamic Azad University of Tehran is considerable and in a significant relationship with the dark skin and smoking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), affecting a large number of people worldwide, has been declared as a public health emergency. The goal of this study was to assess the Knowledge, Attitude, Practice (KAP), and risk perception of dental care during the covid-19 among dental students. Methods: An online questionnaire was sent to 4th- 6th-year dental students. The questionnaire was divided into 5 sections. The first part contained questions regarding demographic information, whereas the other sections each assessed knowledge (18 questions), attitudes (5 questions), practices (7 questions), and risk perception (2 questions) of dental students. Findings: Among 314 participants, 69.43% were female. The mean scores for Knowledge, Attitude, Practice and Risk Perception were 70.06 ± 8.95 (range: 0-100), 8.86 ± 1.70 (range: 5-15), 5.59 ± 1.86 (range: 0-7) and 4.72 ± 1.92 (range: 2-6), respectively. The mean knowledge score was not significantly different across gender (P≥ 0.05), females had a lower attitude score (P= 0.017) while their practice score was significantly higher (P=0.009). Based on the linear regression results, higher scores of risk perception were associated with gender (female vs. male: B=0.653, P=0.001). A significant positive correlation was found between practice and risk perception (r=0.215, p=0.007). Moreover a negative correlation between attitude and risk perception (r= -0.192, p=0.016). Conclusions: This study revealed that the overall scores of KAP among the dental students were good, however, their knowledge about the extra precautionary measures requires further educations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herpes simplex virus is considered one of the most common human infections in most parts of the world, among which, herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) is one of the most important human pathogenic viruses that cause numerous skin and oral lesions. Practitioners of the dental profession and related fields are in close contact with numerous patients referring to dental clinics and are at risk of cross-infection. Regarding this, one of the infections that dental professionals are exposed to is herpes simplex virus infection. This study aimed to evaluate the level of HSV1 antibody among dental students of Birjand in 2018-2019. This crosssectional study was performed on 100 dental students of Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Iran. After obtaining informed consent, a peripheral blood sample (5 ml) was collected from participants and the presence of anti-virus antibody was examined using an Anti-Herpes-1 IgG kit with the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. It was revealed that 41% of the subjects had anti-herpes type 1 antibodies. Based on data analysis, the prevalence of HSV1 antibody was higher in pre-clinical and clinical level than in basic science; however, there was no significant relationship between students' educational level and antibody prevalence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Bisphosphonates (BP) have recently been used in the treatment of bone diseases. The BP-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (BRONJ) is a severe complication of long-term usage of BP and can lead to serious consequences. This study aimed to evaluate the level of awareness and performance of dentists and senior dental students in Bandar Abbas, Iran, regarding the treatment of patients who take BP. Method: In this cross-sectional study, a questionnaire, based on the standard guidelines, was handed out to dentists and senior dental students in Bandar Abbas city. Variables, such as gender, age, level of awareness, and performance when treating the aforementioned patients were taken into account. The collected data were analyzed using Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Levene, chi-squared, and independent t-test. Result: The performance index was 11.8±2.82 in dentists and 14.29±5.8 in senior dental students which indicates a significant difference between them in terms of performance when treating BRONJ in patients taking BP. However, no significant difference was observed in terms of their knowledge. Conclusion: The level of performance and knowledge in most dentists and dental students was intermediate and policies should be made to raise their abilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Considering the growing knowledge about stem cells and the role of cell-based therapies in the future, dentists should have adequate knowledge about oral stem cell sources and their applications in dentistry. The present study assessed the knowledge and attitude of dental students and recent dental graduates towards dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) in Iran. Methods This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed in 2021 on 175 participants, including 86 dental students and 89 recent dental graduates from the Dental School of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences (RUMS), Rafsanjan, Iran and Dental School of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences (SBMU), Tehran, Iran. A researcher-designed questionnaire was used to collect data. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were assessed. The data were analyzed by SPSS version 21 using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, independent t-test, and ANOVA. Results The mean knowledge and attitude scores of the participants were 66.16±8.51% and 68.65±11.87%, respectively. The mean attitude score was significantly correlated with “interest in participating in the courses related to stem cells” and “scientific journal review rate”. The level of knowledge of the participants from SBMU was significantly higher than that of participants from RUMS (P<0.05). Other variables did not had a significant effect on the mean score of knowledge or attitude (P>0.05). Conclusion Dental students had a positive attitude towards the application of stem cells; however, their knowledge was inadequate. Therefore, some appropriate measures must be adopted to enhance the knowledge of dental students about DPSCs, especially in universities with lower ranks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim: E-learning is recognized as a new educational system in many countries, including Iran, and continuous evaluation is needed to improve, develop and guarantee the quality of such a system. This study was aimed to evaluate the quality of e-learning in students of Tehran Azad School of Dentistry in 2020. Materials and methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was performed on all dental students of Islamic Azad University in 2020. The data collection tool was a questionnaire based on previous studies. This questionnaire contained two sections of students' demographic information (educational level (basic and clinical sciences), age, gender, computer skills, grade point average, etc.) and the quality assessment section of e-learning courses (containing 33 questions). The 33-item questionnaire included 6 domins: interaction (5 questions :), content (6 questions), individual learning (5 questions), information and attendance (3 questions), technology (7 questions) and evaluation (7 questions). The questions were scored on a six-point Likert scale from (1) undesirable to high (6). SPSS software version 26 and linear multiple regression model were used to analyze the data. Values less than 0.05 were considered as significant levels. Results: Of 272 students, 56.6% were female and 34.4% were male. 80.1% were under 25 years old. 65.1% were studying in clinical level and 34.9% were studying in basic sciences. The quality of e-learning in the domins of content, individual learning, interaction and information and attendance of the course was at a optimum level and in the domins of course evaluation and technology was relatively good. In general, the variables of basic and clinical sciences (p = 0.35), computer familiarity (p = 0.83), gender (p = 0.71), semester (p = 0.23), grade point average (P =0.29) and age (p = 0.15) did not affect the total score. Conclusion: The quality of e-learning courses for students of Terhan Medical Sciences, Islamic Azad University is evaluated at the desired level based on the average of six domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that have symptoms ranging from the common cold to severe respiratory syndromes. Objective: The purpose of this study is to provide appropriate strategies to raise knowledge and health behavior of students of the University of Medical Sciences to prevent COVID-19. Methods: This study was conducted as a cross-sectional and descriptive study, and the online questionnaire was used by random sampling. Our sample size was 360 subjects and the statistical population was the students of the University of Medical Sciences. We used the nonparametric test (Kruskal Wallis, Mann-Whitney U) and (Chi-Square & t-test) for statistical analysis. Results: The test results were statistically significant for students' health behavior (p < 0.01, df –99). The knowledge of women was higher than men (F = 5.32, p < 0.02). Conclusion: The results show that the Ministry of Health has acted well in promoting students' knowledge and health-promoting behaviors. Therefore, it is recommended that such research be conducted in the public statistical population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Establishment of effective communication between the clinician and patient is essential in order to increase patients' satisfaction and achieve better treatment outcomes. These skills have been less investigated among dental students. The current study assessed the attitude of 5th semester dental students towards communication skills learning at Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Iran during 2017-2018. Methods In this quasi-experimental study, 40 dental students filled out the Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS) with three domains of needs, operation, and application as self-declaration at two time point points before and after passing the course of “dentist-patient communication skills. Data were analyzed using paired t-test, independent t-test, and Wilcoxon signed rank test. Results A significant positive change occurred in students' attitude in general (P<0.001). An improvement in their attitude was observed in domains of needs (P<0.001), operation (P=0.002), and application (P<0.001) after passing the course in comparison with baseline. After passing the course, male students showed a significant positive attitude in domains of needs (P<0.001), operation (P=0.011), and application (P<0.003). But the only positive change in female students' attitude was observed in the domain of application (P=0.004). The positive attitude change in males was significantly higher than that in females in all domains (P=0.023). A significant positive change was observed in the attitude of 21- year-old students in comparison with other age groups (P=0.002). Conclusion The results showed positive change in both male and female students' attitude after passing the academic course of dentist-patient communication skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Preventive orthodontic treatments are performed in the primary or mixed dentition period and provide a proper development of occlusion to avoid dentofacial anomalies.Aims: This study aims to evaluate the Baby-Risk of Malocclusion Assessment Index (ROMA) index regarding ease of use, reproducibility, and the epidemiological assessment of major orthodontic problems in children aged 4-6-year-old in Kerman (Iran) kindergartens.Setting and Design: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 1000 children aged 4-6 in Kerman (Iran) kindergartens, selected by cluster sampling, and data were collected using the Baby-ROMA index.Methods: After recording a demographic data collection form, the clinical examination of the teeth was carried out by a dental student. The data were analyzed with SPSS 18 using t-test, analysis of variance, Chi-squared test, and Mann-Whitney test at a significance level of P < 0.05.Results: In this study, the most common cause of malocclusion was dental caries (7.5%), followed by crossbite (6.1%). Furthermore, 31.6% of the subjects had one type of malocclusion, and 20.5% needed monitoring the occlusion before the growth spurt, while 11.1% needed immediate orthodontic treatment (mostly 6-year-old children). Moreover, 15.3% of the subjects had systemic problems; 3.4% had craniofacial, 22% had dental, and 2% had functional problems. The prevalence of class I canine relationship in the right canines was 82.32%, with 82.5% on the left side. The prevalence of open bite was higher in females with thumb-sucking habit.Conclusion: The Baby-ROMA index presented good reliability and ease of use for evaluating early orthodontic treatment needs in primary and mixed dentition periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives. The career decision-making self-efficacy (CDSE) in medical, pharmacy, and dental students is more important than other disciplines due to professional sensitivity, direct involvement in decision-making for the treatment process, and the significant clinical involvement. It is also expected that learning styles can have a significant impact on the academic success, and the CDSE also affects the quality of clinical care. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the relationship between the learning styles and the career decision-making self-efficacy among medicine and dentistry students. Materials and Methods. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 235 medical interns and fifth- and sixth-year dental students of Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, Iran. The data were collected using Kolb Learning Style Inventory and Betz and Luzzo career decision-making self-efficacy questionnaire. Statistical tests such as Kolmogorov–Smirnov, Spearman correlation coefficient, Chi-square, one-way ANOVA were used to analyze the data. Results. The mean age of participants was 25.9 ± 1.30; a majority of them were dental students (134 persons, 59.3%), and 92 were medical students (40.7%). The predominant learning styles in dental and medical students were assimilating (40.3%) and converging (47.8%), respectively. There was no significant relationship between students' learning styles and career decision-making self-efficacy and none of its subscales (P > 0.05). The Chi-square test results showed that a significant difference was observed between the field of study and learning styles of the participants (P = 0.024). Conclusion. This study showed that there was no significant relationship between learning style and career decision-making self-efficacy of the participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Good oral health (OH) is essential for physical, social, mental health, and overall quality of life. This study assessed the usefulness of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) in changing oral health-related behaviors among school children aged 11-13 years in Saveh, Iran.Methods: In this descriptive before and after study, participants were sixth-grade students at single sex primary schools in Saveh city, Iran. We recruited 356 school children in 2019. Using simple random sampling, a male and a female school per district were allocated to the experimental group and the remaining schools to the control group. Our planned oral health education consisted of four one-hour training sessions over 1 week. The first session familiarized the participants with important information about OH. In the second session, we applied a brain storming exercise to identify the benefits and barriers to flossing and brushing. In the third session, a short film about correct brushing and dental flossing technique was shown and research team also used role-playing to correct any mistakes. In the final session students were taught about the importance and the application of OH planning and given forms to help plan for brushing.Results: Participants for the study included 356 students (180 in the experimental group and 176 in the control group) who completed the post-test questionnaire. The mean age ± standard deviation was 11.55 years ±0.93 in the experimental group and 11.58 years ±1.01 in the control group. After the intervention, the paired t-test indicated a significant difference between the mean and standard deviation of the action plan and coping plan constructs in the experimental group before and after the intervention (p < 0.05). Covariance analysis indicated a significant difference between scores of intervention and control groups under statistical control of post-test in two groups (covariate) after a peer-led education program (post-test) (p < 0.05).Conclusion: A shortage of professional health workers in education settings together with the ease, usefulness and low-cost of this peer-led method, suggest further steps should be taken to implement it more widely to improve and enhance primary school aged students' oral health behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: Regarding the need for social accountability in dental education, community-based dental courses has been established to improve the oral health of the community and compensate the shortcomings of the health system. Due to the importance of evaluation, the aim of this study was to determine the dental students’ attitudes and believes in the last year of their study towards the community-based dental education. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 159 dental students in the sixth year (October and February, 2018) of Isfahan dental school by census. These students took the relevant questionnaire, which was developed by researchers in three sections of “attitudes toward field activities”, “lessons and experiences of field activities during dentistry training” and “barriers and problems of field activities”. Its content and face validity was confirmed. They completed it on their own and after collecting information and descriptive analyzes, the relationship between the gender and entry group with attitude scores was analyzed by Mann-Whitney U test. Results: Out of a total of 102 questionnaires which were answered (response rate of 64%), half of the students believed in the need to provide dental services in the form of mobile/outreach services for the community. 90% of the students agreed with the combination of field education with routine education in the dental schools. They also considered these services as an opportunity to use their experiences and knowledge to promote oral health in the community. 84% of them believed that their self confidence improved while providing services outside the faculty. In many of the propositions in the field of attitude to provide service in the field, a significant percentage (50 to 60%) did not have an opinion. Conclusion: There was a good and positive aspects in many areas of attitude toward providing services in social fields as well as attitude towards the lessons learned from community-based dental education. However, we should consider the attitude-emotional aspects of educational objectives in the community-based courses in dental schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The traditional medicine is an integral part of the Iranian culture. Since Birjand dental school presented traditional medicine course for dental students for the first time in Iran, this study aimed to evaluate dental students' viewpoints about traditional medicine course. Methods: After approving optional traditional medicine course for dental students in Birjand University of medical sciences, Birjand dentistry students' viewpoints were evaluated in two separate semesters through an open ended questionnaire which its validity and reliability were confirmed. The questionnaire was designed on a five-point Likert scale. The mean of scores for each question and the mean of student scores on all 16 questions were calculated and through comparing with median, positive or negative viewpoints were evaluated. Results: In the first and second runs of course, only two questions (teachers' mastery on the content and student satisfaction from final exam) scored above the median. In the first run of the course and totally in" student's willingness to repass course" the students acquired the least score. All of mean students' score for sum of 16 questions were less than 3 in two runs of the course. Students were generally dissatisfied with the inappropriate timing of classes, the high amounts of content, the impracticality of the subjects, and the lack of relevance to the field of dentistry. Conclusion: All dentistry students had negative viewpoints to traditional medicine course in this form. It is recommended that it should be provided to dental students in a more practical way and as workshops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: Information technology (IT) can make a powerful contribution to dental education and practice. The aim of the present study was to determine access, knowledge and usage of IT among dental students of Islamic Azad University of Esfahan in 2015. Materials and Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study using a stratified random sampling method in 2016. A validated self-administered questionnaire requested information from 150 dental students. Mann-Whitney U, Spearman correlation coefficient and Linear Regression Model served for statistical analyses. Results: Among dental students, 58.9 % were women and 41.1% were man. Only 1.3% indicated that they had no access to a computer, and 4% did not have a personal email. Most students reported their access to computer (67.1%) and internet (70%) as good. Mean score of IT knowledge was 11(SD 1.7; range 7-14). However, most were not familiar with any general (78.6%) and professional dental websites (72.6%). Regarding general use of IT, most students reported daily use of social networks (87.8%) but just 10.3% had checked their emails on a daily basis. Professional use of IT among students was poor (only 11.3% reported daily use of professional dental websites and 12.7% had downloaded educational materials on a daily basis). Students with higher knowledge of IT and those who had reported more general IT usage, showed higher level of professional use (P-value<0.05). Conclusion: Dental students’ access to IT was good, however, their professional performance was poor. Regarding the importance of IT in dentistry, it’s essential to inform students about dental informatics and its professional performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: Due to the very high importance of assessing the clinical performance of students, choosing the best assessment tool and method is one of the most important goals and tasks in medical education. The objective of this study was the development of a checklist for the assessment of dental students’ clinical skills of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, in the clinical complete denture course. The second aim was to determine the validity and reliability of the checklist, and The third aim was the evaluation of raters’ and students’ satisfaction. Materials and Methods: The checklist was developed in expert panel sessions, and the validity and reliability of the checklist were assessed with CVI (content validity index) test-retest and inter-rater reliability methods, respectively. Students (n=15) were evaluated with a developed checklist. At the end of the session, the satisfaction level of staff and students were assessed. The obtained information was reported descriptively with the expression of mean and standard deviation and in the form of relative and absolute frequencies. Results: The content validity index (CVI) of the checklist was 0.96. The reliability of the checklist confirmed with a high Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (>0.8) (between 0.82-0.97) (P<0.05). The coefficient of agreement in interrater reliability was 0.99 (between 0.991-0.998). Raters’ and students’ satisfaction earned a high percentage of satisfaction. Conclusion: The designed checklist has the optimal features of a good students’ clinical performance assessment tool; it seems that using this checklist can be an excellent alternative method to a global rating scale to assess the clinical skills of dental students in the complete denture courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aim: The ability to communicate effectively with patients is one of the most important features of a clinician. Effective communication leads to the proper transfer of information from the sender (patient) to the recipient (clinician), enhances the recipient's knowledge and ability to perform tasks or influence his or her attitude and behavior. Therefore, considering the importance of communicating with the patient, which is certainly effective in treating the patient, in this study, we investigated the attitude of dental students about patient communication skills and its related factors at faculty of dentistry, Tehran Medical Sciences , Islamic Azad University in 2017. Material and methods: In this descriptive study, a researcher-made questionnaire containing various indicators of communication skills was used in 10 items, and these were formulated in accordance with the four-point Likert scale of these indicators. Their validity and reliability was thus ensured and its reliability was tested by Test-Retest and it was equal to 0.85. Then, their attitudes about the skills of communication skills classified as absolutely agree (good/positive attitude), agree (moderate attitude), disagree & absolutely disagree (poor/negative attitude). Finally, the role of factors related to attitude was determined using chi-square test. Results: The study was conducted on 123 senior year students with an average age of 30 years. 33.3% were male and 66.7% were female. 39% were married and the rest were single. 48% of people did not participate in communication skills training courses. 52% of people had communication problems with their patients. The good attitude was 40.6%, the moderate attitude was 59.5% and there was no negative attitude. There was no significant relationship between age, gender, marital status, participation in training course and communication attitude (P <0/2). Conclusions: Regarding to given results , although negative attitude does not exist, but there was not positive attitude related to communication skills at to ideal level. So, related educational courses was recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background & aim: Having positive attitude, awareness and interest in students toward their field of study can create a sense of adjustment between their career future and their needs and expectations. This study aimed to establish and compare the degree of awareness, attitude and interest amongst dentistry and pharmacy students of Tehran Medical universities toward their field of study in university. Material & Methods: This descriptive- correlation study was conducted on 314 basic sciences and graduated students of dentistry and pharmacy of Tehran Medical, Shahid Beheshti and Azad universities of Tehran with the use of quota sampling. Data collection instruments were self-made questionnaire, demographic information, student's awareness, attitude and interest. Results: in this study, there was direct relationship between awareness and interest in the field of dentistry in Islamic Azad and Shahid Beheshti universities with the correlation of 0.14, 0.02, and 0.25 respectively and in the field of pharmacy, it was also a direct relationship with the correlation of 0.18, 0.07,and 0.4 respectively. Degree of awareness in graduated students of Islamic Azad universities and Shahid Beheshti was significantly more than basic science and degree of attitude in all three universities was significantly more than that of the graduation time (p>0.05). Degree of interest in both grades, according to the university, didn't have a significant difference. Conclusion: based on the direct and significant relationship between awareness and interest on learning, paying attention to this issue should be a priority for medical training centers planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]