Journal of Dental Medicine

Background and Aims: Caregivers’ oral health literacy (OHL) can be effective in increasing their children’s knowledge, and can improve their oral health-related behaviors. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between mothers’ OHL and children’s oral health status.
Materials and Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study on 202 6-year child/mother dyads in Semirom, Iran, applying a cluster sampling method. Self-administered questionnaires (Oral Health Literacy-Adult Questionnaire) requested information about mothers’ OHL. Children’s oral health status (dmft and pufa) was recorded via clinical examination. Pearson correlation coefficient, spearman correlation coefficient, independent T-test, and a linear regression model were used for statistical analysis.
Results: Among 202 pre-school children, 99 were girls (49%). The mean OHL score of mothers was 63.2 (Max achievable score=100, SD=18.9). Higher score of OHL among mothers was associated with their children’s less missing teeth (mt) and more filled teeth (ft) (P<0.05). No significant the association existed between the mothers OHL and their children’s dt, dmft, and pufa. Childrens of younger mothers, more educated mothers, and those with better oral health behaviors in terms of daily flossing and tooth brushing, showed lower scores of dmft and pufa (P<0.05).
Conclusion: A significant association revealed between mothers’ OHL and the oral health status of their children. Thus, it is recommended to increase mothers’ OHL to improve their children’s oral health status.

Background and Aims: For dental students, communication skills are essential to effectively transfer the necessary information to the patient and meet the patient’s needs and expectations. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the patient communication skills of dental students at Islamic Azad university of Isfahan in 2021.
Materials and Methods: In the present cross-sectional analytical study, an online standardized questionnaire DCCC (Dental consultation communication checklist) was provided to all clinical dental students applying a census sampling method. In total, from 248 clinical dental students, 230 students participated in the study (response rate=92.7%). The questionnaire included five dimensions of introduction, medical history, clinical examination, closure and patient. In order to determine the patient communication skills, its dimensions, and the association between patient communication skills and students’ demographic characteristics, friedman test, analysis of variance, independent t-test and a linear regression model were used for statistical analysis.
Results: The mean score of total communication skills of the students (117.16±15.6) was above average which was obtained from the maximum score of 155. There was a significant difference between the dimensions of communication skills (P<0.001). The highest scores were assigned to the clinical examination, patient, medical history, introduction and closure, respectively. No significant relationship existed between the score of students' communication skills with gender (P=0.08), age (P=0.17), marital status (P=0.19), and educational background in psychology (P=0.07). No significant relationship revealed between the total score of communication skills (P=0.92) and its dimensions (introduction P=0.79, medical history P=0.90, clinical examination P=0.77, closure P=0.35, and patient P=0.85) with the students’ academic year.
Conclusion: The total score of dental students’ communication skills and all its dimensions was above average. However, students reported poorer performance in dimensions of introduction and closure than the other dimensions. Therefore, it is recommended to design and implement educational interventions specially to improve the dimensions of introduction and closure.

Background and Aims: Considering the problems associated with occupational stress and burnout caused by this stress, this study aimed to determine the academic burnout, dental environment stress, and their association among dental students in Isfahan.
Materials and Methods: This analytical cross-sectional study was conducted in 2020, applying a convenient sampling method. Data collected from undergraduate dental students from Isfahan University of Medical Sciences and Azad University of Isfahan using the validated Persian version of BCSQ-12-SS (Burnout Clinical Subtype Questionnaire) including 12 questions and DES (Dental Environment Stress) including 32 questions. Volunteer students filled in the online questionnaires using social media including WhatsApp and Telegram. Data were analyzed using SPSS26, U Mann-Whitney test, Kruskal-Wallis test, Spearman correlation coefficient, and a linear regression model (level of significance P<0.05).
Results: Among 300 participants (response rate=64%), the mean age was 24.25±2.72, and 54.7% were women. The mean score of academic burnout was 2.61±0.66 of the maximum score of 5. Overload was the most effective dimension of academic burnout. The mean score of DES was 2.80±0.51 of the maximum score of 4. Clinical education was the most effective dimension of DES. A direct correlation was observed between the dental environment stress and academic burnout (P<0.001; r=0.33).
Conclusion: The academic burnout among dental students in Isfahan was moderate and dental environment stress was high. Considering the direct association between the stress and burnout, more efforts should be made to reduce dental environment stress especially in the field of clinical education.