Impact of dental education on DMFT index among undergraduate dental students in selected Nigerian universities

Abstract

Background: DMFT is used to denote decayed, missing and filled teeth. The DMFT index is the universally employed index for measuring dental caries status. Dental caries is the most common oral disease affecting all age groups and a major cause of tooth loss. A fundamental purpose of dental education is to develop health professionals who will maintain and improve the oral health status of individuals and populations. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of dental education on the occurrence of DMFT among undergraduate dental students in Nigeria.
Materials and Method: The study was a cross-sectional survey involving the use of a multi-stage sampling technique to select 812 undergraduate dental students from six institutions. Structured questionnaires were designed in two sections (A and B). Section A on socio-demographic data was self-administered and section B on oral examination was interviewer-administered. Data were analyzed using Chi-square test at 5% level of significance.
Results: The mean age of the respondents was 22.0±3.0 years. The overall prevalence of dental caries among the participants was 24%. The median DMFT score was 0.0 and the range was 0.0 – 8.0. The decayed component of the DMFT decreased significantly from 22.4% in 100 level to 7.2% in 600 level (p<0.0001) and the filled component increased significantly from 2.5% in 100 level to 13.1% in 600 level (p<0.018).
Conclusion: Dental education had a positive influence on dental caries status of the subjects.