Abstract
Background: One of the ultimate goals in any dental educational system is to provide the students with updated knowledge and clinical skills. Dental caries management techniques have changed from the removal of the whole caries tissue to be more conservative and tissue preservable. Minimally invasive (MI) techniques are proven to be clinically successful in many years, which is stand on minimizing the deterioration of the tooth tissue by applying the modern and updated cariology and material sciences. Aim: the aim of the study was to assess the knowledge of the MID concepts among dental internship students at college of dentistry, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study directed towards internship dental students at college of dentistry, King Saud University, Riyadh in Saudi Arabia.
Results: A total of 95 dental interns completed the survey which represented a response rate of 74%; of which 54 (56.8%) were male while 41 (43.2%) were female respondents. Nearly more than of half the respondents 56 (58.9%) reported that they had some information about minimal invasive dentistry concept in general. Most respondents 70 (73.7%) gained their knowledge about minimal invasive dentistry during undergraduate studies. More than two third of participants had little or no information about Fluoresce HD, hand-piece, Electrical Caries Monitor (ECM) and Infrared Laser fluorescence (IRLF) 64 (73.6%), 63 (72.4%) and 52 (59.7%) respectively as diagnostic caries methods. Most of the respondents reported that they had never heard about Casein Posphopeptide Amorphous Calcium Phosphate (CPP-ACP) and Stepwise caries removal techniques 66 (75.9%) and 51(58.6%) respectively.
Conclusions: More than half of the participants were aware of the MID concept in general. There was a lack of knowledge among most respondents towards some advanced diagnostic and minimal invasive dentistry caries management techniques. The results of the study suggest the need to introduce minimal invasive dentistry concepts as a part of dental school's curriculum to build the solidity of knowledge and the attitude toward minimal invasive dentistry.