Knowledge of Dental Notation System in a Dental Teaching Hospital of Karachi

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To identify the various types of dental notation system preferred by students working within the dental hospital and to evaluate the tooth notation methods favored by the different clinical departments in a dental teaching hospital of Karachi. METHODOLOGY: This Cross sectional study was conducted within the dental hospital of Bahria University Medical and Dental College. The survey employed for this study was modified from the study lead by Al-Johany SS. All the qualitative variables are presented as frequency and percentages. Chi-square or Fischer exact test was applied to see the significance P-value < 0.05 considered to be statistically significant. RESULTS: A total of 153 students participated in the study. FDI was commonly understandable tooth Numbering system by 66% (n= 48) of the final year students while 49% (n=39) of the house officers preferred Universal system. For coding primary teeth palmer system was identified, while for permanent dentition FDI was preferred. CONCLUSION: This study clearly highlights that different method for tooth numbering will be used continually by the dental professionals. Realistic approach is to make sure that dental professionals have sufficient knowledge regarding the most commonly used numbering systems and are responsive towards the pitfalls in each system.