Knowledge and Self-Perceived Confidence Level in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery among Dental Interns in Riyadh

Abstract

Introduction: Minor oral surgical procedures are practiced in dental teaching. Interns are required to be competent, well-prepared and acknowledge its basics before their practice. Lack of training and knowledge could lead to serious consequences during clinical practice. Aim: To assess the knowledge and confidence level between male and female dental interns in private and governmental Riyadh dental schools in performing simple dento-alveolar procedures. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted at Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in January 2020 among dental interns from all Riyadh dental schools. A cross-sectional survey containing 23 items was used. The first part included the informed consent and demographic data (item 1-3). The second part consisted of 10 case scenarios to assess the knowledge level (item 4-13), and the third part was developed to self-rate their confidence level (item 14-23). Around 300 participants belonging to five Riyadh dental schools comprised the study population. All interns were included in the study after obtaining informed consent. All statistical analyses were performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.0 and Microsoft Excel 16.16. Groups were compared using Pearson chi-square and unpaired sample t-test. The p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Out of 300 interns invited to participate, 210 submitted the electronic survey (70%). The final study population included 117 (56%) females and 93 (44%) males. A total of 111 (53%) belonged to governmental college, and 99 (47%) belonged to private college. There was no statistically significant difference between females and males in total knowledge (p<0.272) and confidence score (p<0.850), respectively. However, a statistically significant difference in knowledge and confidence between government and private colleges was found (p<0.001). A weakly positive significant correlation (r=0.217, p=0.002) was found between the total score of knowledge and the total score of confidence in performing surgical procedures. Conclusion: The study provides baseline data on the knowledge and perceived confidence of dental interns in Saudi Arabia about certain clinical procedures in oral surgery, where respondents were most knowledgeable in prescribing an appropriate medication. They were confident in giving effective local anaesthesia. All in all, interns had a superficial knowledge about the classification of impacted teeth and they were least confident in managing cases of an intraoral abscess.