Browsing by Author "Buscemi, Maria Vittoria"
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- Knowledge of and attitudes towards erosive tooth wear among students of a Portuguese university: pilot surveyPublication . Buscemi, Maria Vittoria; Monteiro, Patrícia Manarte; Silva, LígiaAims: To assess and compare the knowledge of and attitudes towards erosive tooth wear (ETW) among university students of the Portuguese University Fernando Pessoa (UFP). Also to perform a systematic review of cross-sectional studies on the ETW issued. Methods: Cross-sectional, observational, prospective pilot study, approved by the UFP Ethics Committee (FCS/PI-501/23-3) for a bilingual (English and Portuguese) online self-administered questionnaire displayed to all UFP students (Ss) of the 2023-2024 academic year. Two groups were recruited, Dentistry (DSs) and Non-Medical (NMSs), based on a convenience sample (n=344) calculated. Participants voluntarily answered to demographic questions, to 15 true/false/don’t questions on knowledge of ETW (items K1-K15) and, to 10 positively framed statements (items A1-A10) to score the attitude towards ETW based on a 5-point Likert scale. Differences in scores for DSs and NMSs groups, by non-parametric tests, and the correlation on knowledge of and attitudes, by the Pearson coefficient, were considered significant if P < 0.05. A complementary review for discussion purposes was done, following the PICO approach and STROBE guidelines. The search strategy included five main MeSH. Only full text, cross-sectional studies published from 2013 to 2023 years and written in English were scrutinized. In vitro, Animal, Cohort, Field, Case reports or longitudinal studies, or incomplete articles were excluded. Results: A total of 251 (72.9%) students participated, but only 245 (71.2%) fulfilled the on-line survey, being 164 (66.9%) females. The Knowledge and Attitude scores of the DSs (Md=12.0; IQR 11.0-13.0 and Md=43.0; IQR 40-0-48.0) and were higher (P <0.001 and P = 0.019) than those of NMSs (Md=8.0; IQR 6.0-10.0 and Md=41.0; IQR 38.0-46.0), respectively. Furthermore, the Knowledge score of male (P=0.001), of students with more than 22 years old (P<0.001) and of curricular-year > 3-years (P <0.001) were higher. Similar knowledge scores (P = 0.330) were found for students nationality. The attitude score showed similar (P >0.05) results for gender, age, nationality and curricular year. Moderate level of knowledge was higher (P < 0.001) for DSs (Md= 12.0, IQR 11.0-12.0) than for NMSs (Md=10.0, IQR 9,0-10.0) students. No differences were found between DSs and NMSs on behalf of the weak and the high levels (both, P >0.05) of knowledge. DSs and NMSs subjects revealed differences for attitude levels (P< 0.001) distribution. No differences (P >0.05) were found between the DSs and NMSs subjects when comparing each attitude (negative, neutral and positive) level. A Positive attitude and knowledge scores correlation was suggested for all students (r = 0.101; P> 0.05) and for DSs (r = 0.031; P> 0.05). For NMSs group, a negative tendency (r = -0.001; P>0.05) was detected. Conclusions: Both, knowledge and attitude scores of DSs were higher than those of NMSs. Males, students with more than 22 years old and, those with more than 3 curricular years in UFP showed higher knowledge scores. Attitude scores were similar by gender, by students age and curricular year. Knowledge and attitudes were similar and independent of students nationality. The attitude and knowledge scores correlation was not significantly detected. The outcome of this pilot study, and the literature, highlighted the needs for improved knowledge and attitudes toward ETW among those, and several other communities.