Background: Researchers have described empathy as a cognitive attribute, which means it predominantly involves understanding another person's concerns. It has also been described as an affective or emotional characteristic, which implies that it primarily involves feeling another person's pain and suffering. Because empathic patient interactions by dentists are associated with improved patient outcomes, self-reported declines in empathy during dental student training are a concern. Aim: To measure empathy levels among 3 rd year, 4 th year undergraduate students and interns studying in dental colleges of Bangalore city and to investigate the differences in empathy scores based on gender and year of dental training. Methodology: A cross sectional descriptive research was undertaken among 800 dental students (3 rd year, final year and interns) to measure the empathy levels using Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy-Health Professionals Version (JSPE-HP) questionnaire containing 20 items answered on a 5-point Likert scale (strongly agree, agree, neutral , disagree and strongly agree). The data was analyzed using SPSS 21. Results: Out of 800(100%) dental students, 300 (37.5%) were males and 500 (62.5%) were females with the mean age of males and females 22.93 ± 1.72 and 21.87 ± 1.28 respectively. The mean empathy scores with respect to age was more for 21-22 yrs whereas based on gender, empathy scores were more for males and there was not much difference found with the empathy scores with respect to fourth year students and interns. Conclusion: This cross-sectional study explored differences in empathy among dental student groups in the context of existing evidence that empathy declines as students progress through dental course.

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IntroductionEarly childhood caries (ECC) is a virulent form of dental caries that can destroy the primary dentition of toddlers and preschool children. The aim was to determine the relationship of feeding methods and oral Streptococcus mutans count in 3- to 5-year-old children with ECC.Materials and methodsA cross-sectional study was conducted in children aged 3 to 5 years. Participating mothers were interviewed regarding child’s demographic profile, educational level and socioeconomic status of parents, past medical and dental history of the mother and child, child’s feeding habits, and dietary habits and oral hygiene practices of mother and child. Clinical examination for dental caries was done using the World Health Organization criteria (1997). Salivary samples of mother-child pair were collected to determine the pH, flow rate, and S. mutans count. Statistical tests, such as Student’s t-test, analysis of variance, and Pearson’s correlation were applied.ResultsOut of 150 mother-child pair, statistically significant difference in the caries experience was found between mothers and children with high and low S. mutans count. Moderate but statistically significant negative correlation was found between mean decayed, missing, and filled teeth of mothers and mean decayed, extracted and filled teeth (deft) of children with high S. mutans count. Regarding deft, there was no statistically significant difference between children who were exclusively breast fed (7.85 ± 2.94), exclusively bottle-fed (8.67 ± 3.98), and both breast and bottle-fed (7.77 ± 2.91).ConclusionThe mean caries experience of mothers and children was 2.66 ± 2.01 and 7.82 ± 2.94 respectively, with decayed component being maximum. Moderate and significant correlation (r = 0.5) was found between S. mutans of mothers and children in saliva. Significant negative correlation was found between mothers and children with high S. mutans count (r = -0.0284; p = 0.046).How to cite this articleBullappa D, Puranik MP, Sowmya KR, Nagarathnamma T. Association of Feeding Methods and Streptococcus mutans Count with Early Childhood Caries: A Cross-sectional Study. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2017;10(2):119-125.