Knowledge, attitude, practice, and self-reported competency of Iranian senior dental students towards preventive dentistry

Background and Aims: Regarding to importance of prevention in current d entistry and considerable role of dentists’ attitude and practice in this area, th e aim of the present study was investigation of kno wledge, attitude, practice, and self-reported competency of Iranian dental students towards preventive dentist ry n 2015. Methods: Of all Iranian state dental schools, six were sele ct d by stratified random sampling. All the dental students (n = 252) were asked to voluntarily complete a standard anonymous question naire containing background information, oral self-care, knowledge, attitude, practice, and self-reported competency towards preventive dentistry. Results: A total of207 participants (response rate of 82.1% ) completed the questionnaire of whom 118 respondents (57%) were women. Women reported signif ica tly higher frequencies of flossing (p = 0.02) and lower frequencies of eating sugary snacks (p=0. 03) compared with men. Students who their mothers had an academic education reported higher frequenci es of flossing (p=0.03), tooth brushing (p=0.03), respecting EBOSC (p=0.03) and had the highest pract ices cores towards preventive dentistry (p=0.009). A higher score on preventive practice among the stu dents was associated with their positive attitudes (p=0.005) and self-perceived competency (p=0.05) to wards prevention. Conclusion: Despite some favorable changes in dental education , preventive dentistry has not found its real position among dental students yet. Appropriat e programming is necessary to promote present situation among dental students.