Digital Form for Assessing Dentists’ Knowledge about Oral Care of People Living with HIV

Abstract

Oral lesions are usually the first sign of HIV infection. The present study aimed to determine the level of the knowledge of dentists on the dental care needs of People Living with HIV (PLWH). This cross-sectional study was conducted between February and May 2021, in the Brazilian state of Pará, during which a total of 51 dentists received an anonymous digital form (Google® Forms Platform) composed of four blocks of discursive, dichotomous, and multiple-choice questions. The questions referred to various aspects of the dental care needs of PLWH, together with data on the professional activities of the dentists. After signing the term of informed consent, the dentists were divided into six subgroups according to the time (in years) since completing their bachelor’s degree in dentistry. The data were presented as descriptive statistics and percentages, and then analyzed using the Kappa test. Most (70.6%; 36 of 51) of the dentists were female, the mean age of the dentists was 32.5 years, and a majority (80.2%) were based in the city of Belem; the mean time since graduation was 8.5 years, with 22 (43.1%) having more than 5 years of professional experience, and 31 (60.8%) having graduated from a private dental college. Just over half (51%) of the 51 dentists had completed graduate courses, and the most common dental specialty was orthodontics (19.6%). Most (74.5%) of the dentists work in the private sector, 38 (74.5%) claimed to have already provided oral care to PLWH, and 43 (84.3%) had access to specialist content on the oral care needs of PLWH. In terms of the knowledge of the dentists with regard to the oral care needs of PLWH, four of the ten diagnostic questions obtained more inadequate answers than expected, whereas the final two questions (11–45.1% and 12–31.4%) demonstrated that many of the dentists adopt unnecessary modifications in their oral care protocol for PLWH, due to a fear of contamination. Overall, our results demonstrate a frequent lack of knowledge, especially with regard to the oral healthcare needs of PLWH, which may account for many of the stigmas that persist in the dental care of this vulnerable group.

Digital Form for Assessing Dentistry Undergraduates Regarding Periodontal Disease Associated with Cardiovascular Diseases

“…Normally, the majority of studies try to understand the relationship between CVD and PD, but few studies have tried to understand the knowledge level, doubts and difficulties of DUS during dental management of cardiac patients with PD [ 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 ]. In this study, as mentioned before, our focus was the knowledge of DUS regarding cardiac patients with PD, and the main goal was to develop periodontal treatment for this specific population.…”

“…Later, each student signed a digital written consent form and then agreed to participate in the study. After completing and sending the information through the form, each student also invited three other students to fill out the digital form, and this procedure was repeated several times in order to compose the full sample size [ 36 ].…”

“…All data from this study were entered into an Excel database (Microsoft Corp., Redmond, WA, USA) and converted to BioEstat. Statistical parameters (absolute and relative frequencies, mean, median, range and standard deviation) were used to describe the characteristics of the sample according to the quantitative and qualitative variables investigated [ 36 ].…”

“…Data were evaluated by absolute and relative frequency, as well as by G tests, which were used to compare informed knowledge and knowledge demonstrated by the students. The value of p < 0.005 was considered significant for all analyses, and all statistical procedures were carried out in the BioEstat 5.0 software [ 36 ]. Additionally, in the selected groups, an associated 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to measure the strength of the dependent association between yes and no answers in query block 4.…”

“…Unfortunately, only a few studies have attempted to demonstrate the effects of this knowledgeable care. As stated by Faden et al [ 35 ] and Fonseca et al [ 36 ], these few studies evidence that knowledge of the association between oral and systemic diseases is not well established among dentists, while dentistry undergraduate students (DUS) have been neglected by these studies, resulting in a need to fill this gap in the literature. Therefore, this present study aimed to determine and evaluate the knowledge level, doubts and difficulties of DUS regarding the correct periodontal treatment and management of cardiac patients with PD.…”