Evaluation of knowledge, approaches, and self-efficacy perceptions of Turkish dental students about preventive and interceptive orthodontic applications in 2018-2019

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Preventive orthodontics aids in the formation of normal occlusion. There have been numerous studies on this topic published in the literature. The purpose of this study was to assess final-year dental students knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy perceptions of preventive and interceptive orthodontic applications (PIOA). METHODS: Data were collected from 410 dental students from eight different faculties in this cross-sectional study using a predesigned and validated self-administered, structured questionnaire. SPSS software was used to analyze the data, which included descriptive statistics, the independent samples t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and the Kuder-Ritchardson Formula 20 (KR-20) reliability coefficient. The statistical significance level was set at P ≤ 0.05. RESULTS: The vast majority of students (71.0%) did not believe that they were qualified to perform PIOA after graduation. With a rate of 80.5%, preventive treatment was chosen as the most important treatment type. The most correctly answered question, with a score of 92.4%, was about space maintainers. The total score was calculated to be 9.13 ± 2.73. There was a significant difference in total scores between men and women (P = 0.0340). There was a significant difference in total scores between those who thought and those who did not think that enough time had been allocated to theoretical education (P = 0.0001). The total score differed significantly from the responses to the question Do you believe you have sufficient theoretical and practical knowledge about PIOA? (P = 0.0001). CONCLUSION: The women knowledge level was higher than that of the men, and the students valued preventive measures. Experts should consider these findings when developing the core curriculum.