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ABSTRACT: Background: Dental care of patients with epilepsy and seizures must be performed by dentists who are familiar with these disorders. Improper training and incapability to manage medical emergencies, including epileptic seizures, may cause thoughtful consequences and legal actions. Therefore, dental students must have a proper knowledge of the disease and its consequences. They should have the ability to provide first-aid measures helping a patient experiencing an epileptic seizure in their clinics. This study aims to evaluate the first-aid knowledge and practices towards patients with epileptic seizures among the dental students in Saudi Arabia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted targeting dental students in Saudi Arabia from 15 September 2022 to 15 December 2022 using convenience sampling. An online questionnaire was sent to the students via social media platforms for data collection. The data analysis was conducted using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16.0. Results: Of the 499 dental students included, 154 (30.86%) students had ever seen an epileptic patient in the clinics. About 16% of students did not know about performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on patients. The majority (66.5%) would call the ambulance after the patient's seizure stops. About 82% of students prefer to call an ambulance if the patients face difficulty breathing or waking up after the seizure. More than 60% of students were taking precautions before treating an epilepsy patient. About 58.5% of the students were using local anaesthesia for an epilepsy patient. Nearly 41.9% do not have the confidence to treat an epilepsy patient. About 28.0% would swipe the vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) magnet over the left side of the chest. Of 154 students, who had ever seen epileptic patients, the majority (68.8%) refused to treat patients if they observe noncompliance with medication and follow-up among the patients who had any recent illness or seizures (16.2%). Conclusion: The undergraduate dental students had an intermediate knowledge regarding epilepsy and epileptic seizure first aid. However, some students lacked the confidence to deal with the epileptic cases in their clinics. Educational campaigns on epilepsy and first-aid courses targeting dental students are highly recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Glaucoma is a disease that results in a painless elevation of intro ulster pressure (IOP), which can lead to progressive optic nerve damage and visual field loss. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), glaucoma is the second leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. It is certain that understanding the disease and knowing the people most susceptible, such as those with chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension may help treat the condition and check it regularly to avoid irreversible blindness. Materials and Methods: This study was done to measure the extent of people's awareness and knowledge about glaucoma. The study was cross sectional and used a questionnaire to find about the awareness of glaucoma among the residents of Abha. The sample size was 1563. It was conducted within 2 months of taking ethical approval and informed consent. Data was analyzed by statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) program, version 22. Results: The study results showed that around 77.1% of the respondents had heard about glaucoma. Of the 1563 participants, the majority were women and they constituted 81.0%. Nearly 88.3% replied that glaucoma may lead to blindness and 86.9% agreed that early screening helps avoid the complications of glaucoma. Although just 5.4% did glaucoma screening, 43.0% concurred that this blindness can be treated. Conclusion: Current research evaluated the awareness and knowledge of glaucoma among the residents of Aseer. Good awareness level regarding glaucoma was found among 725 respondents (46.4%) and 53.6% had poor awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]