Assessment of Dental Students’ Knowledge of Tooth Wear, Its Diagnosis, Prevalence, Prevention, and Treatment

Background A sizable increase in the outbreak of tooth attrition and especially dental erosion has been observed. Detection of tooth wear, proper prevention, and effective intervention in the early stage will avoid the adverse effect on teeth performance and elegance. Thus, the current study aimed to determine the level of awareness of senior dental students (general dentists) about the prevalence, prevention, and treatment of tooth wear. Materials and Methods In this cross-sectional descriptive study, 122 senior students of Dental School in Rasht, Bandar-e Anzali, Pardis, Iran, were recruited through the census method in 2017. The data collection tool was a construction questionnaire of 25 questions, and its validity and reliability have been already approved. The collected data were entered into SPSS21. To analyze the data, descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation and inferential statistics of the Independent t test at the significant level of P<0.05 was utilized. Results The results of the present study showed that the majority of students had moderate knowledge about tooth wear. Test results indicated that the students had authentic awareness only in three phrases which means in the facet occlusion (P=0.001), in the stage of the early signs of tooth wear (P<0.0001), and about occlusal loading (P=0.014).  Conclusion The results of this study showed that students had average information in the field of prevalence, prevention, and treatment of various tooth wear diseases. In this regard, attention to preparing a proper teaching plan and content related to tooth wear seem necessary.