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Professional knowledge among Swedish and Saudi healthcare practitioners regarding oro‐facial pain in children and adolescents
Author(s) -
AlKhotani A.,
NaimiAkbar A.,
Björnsson O.,
Christidis N.,
Alstergren P.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of oral rehabilitation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.991
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1365-2842
pISSN - 0305-182X
DOI - 10.1111/joor.12330
Subject(s) - family medicine , health professionals , medicine , etiology , health care , psychiatry , economics , economic growth
Summary Oro‐facial pain ( OFP ) and temporomandibular disorders ( TMD ) in children and adolescents are a growing problem. To meet patients’ healthcare needs, professionals must perform their work intuitively and with quality. Therefore, a high degree of professional knowledge is necessary. To investigate the professional knowledge regarding OFP / TMD in children and adolescents among Swedish and Saudi Arabian dental and medical specialists compared with Swedish OFP specialists. One questionnaire including the four domains Chronic pain and behaviour; Aetiology; Diagnosis and classification; Treatment and prognosis was distributed to 383 potential participants, that is physicians and dentists in Sweden and Saudi Arabia. The Swedish OFP / TMD specialists were used as a reference group. The response rates from Sweden and Saudi Arabia were 49% and 86%, respectively. The degree of agreement was highest in the domain Chronic pain and behaviour , especially for the Swedish groups. Regarding the other three domains, the agreement was modest to poor. In general, Swedish groups showed a higher agreement with Swedish OFP / TMD specialists than Saudi Arabian groups. This study shows that professional knowledge regarding OFP / TMD in children and adolescents is limited among Swedish and Saudi Arabian dental and medical professionals compared to Swedish OFP / TMD specialists. In Swedish groups, the professional knowledge is more accurate than in the corresponding Saudi Arabian. With these results in mind, and the frequent prevalence of OFP / TMD in children and adolescents, one can draw the conclusion that there is a need for modern medical education regarding OFP / TMD among both physicians and dentists, especially in Saudi Arabia.