Attitude and practice of dental students about preventive and therapeutic management

Background: Some diseases are caused by a single factor and others, including dental caries, are caused by different behavioral, biological and socioeconomic factors. The aim of this study was to determine the attitude and practice of dental students of Tehran University of Medical Sciences about caries risk assessment in children.   Materials and methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on dental students of Tehran University of Medical Sciences who received practical pediatric dentistry in the second semester of the academic year 1397-98. Non-random sampling and samples They were included in the census. A standardized questionnaire was used for the study. The prospectus was translated and distributed to face validity among 9 professors and 14 senior dental students who had completed their children's dental course and were graduating. After the translation was approved, the main part of the research began with a call from students who had a practical pediatric dentistry unit. After collecting the questionnaires, the data were entered into Excel software and analyzed using SPSS software version 25/0. To investigate the effect of demographic and contextual variables Knowledge, attitude and practice were analyzed using linear regression model.   Results: The total number of participants was 58 (31.5%) were female and 27 (46.5%) were male. The mean performance score of students (2.25%) was 22.38 out of 32 possible. The mean score of students' attitude was 18.76 (/ 1.83) out of 30.   Conclusion: Student's performance in preventive recommendations and treatment of caries was acceptable, although some training was needed on the administration of products such as xylitol and amorphous calcium phosphate and sodium fluoride gel and antibacterial agents.