Abstract
Aim: The main aim of the study was to assess the awareness of medical and dental students regarding the bidirectional relationships between periodontal and systemic conditions.
Methods: The study involved a cross-sectional survey of dental, medical, pharmacology, and nursing students conducted in 2014 in five colleges in the western region of Saudi Arabia. Along with information on demographic characteristics, data were collected on awareness of (i.e., agreement with questionnaire items regarding) the interrelationships between periodontal disease and diabetes, pregnancy issues, osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and respiratory diseases (using a 5-point Likert scale, with 4 and 5 representing "agree" and "strongly agree,"respectively).
Results: A total of 726 students completed the questionnaire. The majority of the respondents were aware of the interrelationships between periodontal disease and diabetes (85.0%), pregnancy issues (71.0%), osteoporosis (67.1%), and cardiovascular disease (60.5%), while fewer were aware of the associations between periodontal disease and rheumatoid arthritis (44.9%) and respiratory diseases (39.6%). Overall levels of awareness regarding the interrelationships were not found to differ between students who attended government (65.0%) and private (64.2%) schools (p=0.31).
Conclusions: While many students were aware about the evidence linking periodontal disease to diabetes, pregnancy issues, osteoporosis, and cardiovascular disease, they were less knowledgeable about the evidence linking periodontal disease to rheumatoid arthritis and respiratory diseases.