Introduction:  Dental students have to face the additional stress of their studies in addition to the stresses related to dentistry as a profession. Furthermore, increasing stress may result in declining student performance. The aim of the present study was to assess perceived sources of stress amongst dental undergraduate students at a private dental institution in India. Materials and methods:  A modified dental environment stress (DES) questionnaire which consisted of 38 questions was used to assess the levels of stress. Results:  The first major stressor for all the students was examination and grades with a mean score of 2.86 (SD 1.06) followed by full working day, receiving criticism from supervisors about academic or clinical work, amount of cheating in dental faculty, rules and regulations of the faculty and fear of unemployment after graduation. Amongst the six highest stressors in each year, at least three were dental faculty related. There was a significant difference in stress perception between genders with a predilection for males. Twelve of the 38 questionnaire items had significant differences across the year groups including clinical DES items. Conclusion:  The primary sources of stress as perceived by nearly 275 students at one private dental school in India were examinations and grades followed by full working day and receiving criticism from supervisors about academic or clinical work. It appears there is a need for the establishment of student advisors and counsellors combined with a faculty advising system in addition to student‐oriented programmes.

Abstract:The aim of the present study was to evaluate the oral health attitudes and behavior of undergraduate dental students in India according to age, sex and level of dental education, and to compare it with those of other countries with different socioeconomic conditions. A self-administered questionnaire based on the Hiroshima UniversityDental Behavior Inventory (HU-DBI) was distributed among 372 dental students at Darshan Dental College and Hospital (DDCH). The response rate was 75.8% with 44% males and 56% females. The mean HU-DBI score showed a significant relationship (P < 0.05) with age by one way-analysis of variance (ANOVA). The students were considerably concerned about the appearance of their teeth and gums and halitosis. The total mean score was not markedly higher in the clinical years (years 3 and 4) than in the non-clinical years (years 1 and 2), indicating that the students were almost equally aware. Although there were no statistically significant differences in gender and academic year for the mean score of HU-DBI, the present study showed that dental students in India generally had poorer oral health awareness compared to several other countries. The oral health behavior of Indian dental students has to be improved in order to serve as a positive model for their patients, family, and friends. (J. Oral Sci. 50, [267][268][269][270][271][272] 2008)

We investigated the effect of dental anxiety and dental visiting habits, as well as various socio-demographic variables, on oral health-related quality of life (OHQoL) among subjects aged 15-54 years living in Udaipur district, India. The total sample size was 1235 individuals and a stratified cluster sampling procedure was employed to collect the representative sample. Dental anxiety and oral health-related quality of life were assessed using the Corah Dental anxiety scale and the OHQoL-UK(W) questionnaire, respectively. The majority of the female and older individuals showed higher dental anxiety than their male and younger counterparts. Stepwise linear regression analysis revealed that the best predictors of dental anxiety were, in descending order, occupation, gender and education, which provided a variance of 10.3%. Females were more likely to have poor OHQoL than males. Dental anxiety had a significant influence on OHQoL, people with high dental anxiety being 2.34 times more likely to present poor OHQoL than those having low anxiety. Furthermore, it was found that those who never visited a dentist had an odds ratio of 1.62 for poor OHQoL relative to those who had visited a dentist within the last 12 months. Dental anxiety differed significantly with age and dental visiting practices, and had a significant impact on oral health-related quality of life after controlling for other variables.

The aim of the study was to determine the oral health status and investigate the association of oral health status with various socio-demographic (age, gender, parent's education, income) and clinical variables (aetiology for mental disability and IQ level) among mentally disabled subjects. The study sample comprised 225 mentally retarded subjects aged 12-30 years attending a special school in Udaipur, India. Caries status, oral hygiene status and periodontal status were assessed by DMFT Index, Simplified Oral Hygiene Index (OHI-S) of Greene and Vermillion and Community Periodontal Index, respectively. Chi-square test, one way analysis of variance (ANOVA), multiple linear stepwise regression analysis, and multiple logistic regression analysis were employed for statistical analysis. There was a statistically significant difference (P = 0.001) between all the age groups in all the variables of Oral hygiene index and DMFT index. The oldest age group had the highest scores for all the indices measured. Having Down's syndrome, parents with lower educational status and low I.Q. were the most important predictors for poor oral health status. The present study highlighted that the oral health status of this mentally retarded population was poor and was influenced by aetiology of the disability, I.Q. level, and parent's level of education.

The present study highlighted that the oral hygiene and periodontal status of the present study population is poor and was influenced by medical diagnosis, IQ level, disabled sibling, parent's level of education and economic status.

The present cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the prevalence of caries and treatment needs among 127 institutionalized subjects aged 5-22 years attending a special school for students with hearing impairment in Udaipur City, Rajasthan, India. The data were collected using the methods and standards recommended by the WHO for oral health surveys, 1997. Dentition status and treatment needs along with DMFT, DMFS, dmft, dmfs were recorded using a Type III examination procedure. ANOVA, chisquared test and multiple regression analysis were conducted using the SPSS software package (version 11.0). The mean DMFT was 2.61. Of the 127 subjects, 111 (87.4 %) needed treatment. Filling of one tooth surface was necessary for 79.5% of the subjects. Pulp treatment was needed in less than 7%. There was a high prevalence (83.92%) of decayed teeth, whereas only 7.14% of subjects had filled teeth. Multiple regression analysis showed that DMFT had a close association with age. Linear regression analysis revealed that age explained a variance of 32% and 25.4% for DMFT and dmft respectively The findings of this study demonstrate that young people with impaired hearing in this region have a high prevalence of dental caries, poor oral hygiene, and extensive unmet needs for dental treatment. This highly alarming situation requires immediate attention. (J. Oral Sci. 50, [161][162][163][164][165] 2008)

Teeth reinforced with Ribbond fibers using Panavia F luting cement showed the highest resistance to fracture. Resilon could not strengthen the roots and showed no statistically significant difference when compared with thermoplastisized gutta-percha in reinforcing immature tooth when tested with universal testing machine in an experimental model of immature tooth.

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