A Survey of Senior Dental Students ’ Experiences with Young Dental Patients in Pennsylvania
Table 1 . Analysis of variables that may affect dental students ’ willingness to treat pediatric patients younger than 2 years of age upon graduation ( NS = not significant ). Percentages have been rounded .
Performed an Infant exam while in dental school Yes : n = 28 ( 17 % of total )
( p = 0.024 )
Plans on taking classes in pediatric dentistry after graduation Yes : n = 83 ( 50 % of total )
( NS )
Enjoyed didactic training in pediatric dentistry Yes : n = 106 ( 63 % of total )
( NS )
Enjoyed clinical training in Pediatric dentistry Yes : n = 124 ( 74 % of total )
( p = 0.03 )
Willing to see
Yes : n = 13 ( 46 %)
Yes : n = 21 ( 25 %)
Yes : n = 24 ( 23 %)
Yes : n = 25 ( 20 %) children < 2 years of age upon graduation
No : n = 15 ( 54 %)
No : n = 62 ( 74 %)
No : n = 82 ( 77 %)
No : n = 99 ( 80 %)
7-11 year olds and 30.5 percent stating they would only see children over the age of 12 years . Twenty five percent of responders stated that they planned to take continuing education dealing with pediatric dentistry upon graduation . Twenty percent of students enjoyed their time in the pediatric clinic and 22.5 percent stated that they enjoyed their didactic training in pediatric dentistry ( Fig . 3 ). Performing an infant dental exam while in school and perceived enjoyment of clinical pediatric dental training were significantly associated to willingness to see infants below 2 years of age . ( Table 1 ). Perceived satisfaction with didactic pediatric training was not associated to willingness to provide care to children younger than 2 years of age .
Didactic and clinical exposure to exam of a young child was statistically associated to subject ’ s perceived comfort level with this exam . ( Table 2 ) Similarly , both observation and performance of an operative procedure on a child younger than 5 years of age were associated with subject ’ s perceived comfort with the clinical exam of a young child . ( Table 3 )
DISCUSSION Our findings support the concept that there is a link between a dentist ’ s willingness to perform procedures and their dental school training . The main finding of our survey was that if a student performed an examination on a child younger than 2 years of age while in dental school , they were more willing to do so upon graduation . In spite of the guidelines established by the AAPD , a majority of graduating dental students in Pennsylvania do not feel prepared to follow these recommendations . Furthermore , less than half of the dental students could identify 12 months as the recommended age for the first dental exam .
When considered as a single group , students who enjoyed clinical and didactic pediatric instruction tended to have performed an infant clinical examination while in dental school . However , this association did not yield significant results when separately evaluating the effect of didactic and clinical training on willingness to see infants younger than 2 years of age . However , any level of exposure to infant exam ( didactic or clinical ) was associated to senior
September / October 2010 • Pennsylvania Dental Journal
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