Perception of Special Needs Dentistry education and practice amongst Australian dental auxiliary students

Introduction: The role of dental auxiliaries in collaborative care of patients with special needs is compelling. This study was undertaken to investigate the perceptions of Special Needs Dentistry (SND) education and practice amongst students enrolled in Australian programmes in dental auxiliary, na...

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Main Authors: Ahmad, M.S (Author), Al-Dabbagh, M. (Author), Athale, A. (Author), Borromeo, G.L (Author), Bozanic, M. (Author), Buckley, S. (Author), Cao, A. (Author)
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:View Fulltext in Publisher
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008 220706s2018 CNT 000 0 und d
020 |a 13965883 (ISSN) 
245 1 0 |a Perception of Special Needs Dentistry education and practice amongst Australian dental auxiliary students 
260 0 |b Blackwell Publishing Ltd  |c 2018 
856 |z View Fulltext in Publisher  |u https://doi.org/10.1111/eje.12296 
520 3 |a Introduction: The role of dental auxiliaries in collaborative care of patients with special needs is compelling. This study was undertaken to investigate the perceptions of Special Needs Dentistry (SND) education and practice amongst students enrolled in Australian programmes in dental auxiliary, namely dental hygiene, dental therapy and oral health therapy (DH/DT/OHT). Materials and methods: All Australian institutions offering DH/DT/OHT programmes (n = 14) were invited to participate in a self-administered questionnaire survey, conducted online, involving students across all academic years. Twelve institutions agreed to participate, but only five institutions were included in the final analysis, with a student response rate of 31.1%. Answers to open-ended questions were coded and grouped for measurement of frequencies. Quantitative data were analysed via chi-squared and Fisher's exact tests (significance taken as P <.05). Results: The majority of students could not define SND (87.0%) were not aware of the existence of this specialty (53.5%) and did not have clinical experience treating patients with special needs (68.9%). Nevertheless, they felt comfortable and positive about treating these patients independently. Most agreed that they should receive clinical and didactic education in SND, with many of them expressing interest in pursuing a specialty training in this field. Conclusion: DH/DT/OHT students’ comfort levels, positive attitudes and supportiveness for SND suggested positive implications for these practitioners to partake in multidisciplinary management of patients with special needs, thus indicating the need for standardised training requirements and practice guidelines in this area of care. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd 
650 0 4 |a adult 
650 0 4 |a allied dental 
650 0 4 |a Attitude of Health Personnel 
650 0 4 |a Australia 
650 0 4 |a clinical article 
650 0 4 |a comfort 
650 0 4 |a dental assistant 
650 0 4 |a dental auxiliaries 
650 0 4 |a Dental Auxiliaries 
650 0 4 |a dental auxiliary 
650 0 4 |a Dental Care for Disabled 
650 0 4 |a dental education 
650 0 4 |a dental procedure 
650 0 4 |a dentistry 
650 0 4 |a education 
650 0 4 |a Education, Dental 
650 0 4 |a female 
650 0 4 |a health 
650 0 4 |a health personnel attitude 
650 0 4 |a human 
650 0 4 |a Humans 
650 0 4 |a male 
650 0 4 |a mouth hygiene 
650 0 4 |a perception 
650 0 4 |a physician 
650 0 4 |a practice guideline 
650 0 4 |a questionnaire 
650 0 4 |a Special Care Dentistry 
650 0 4 |a Special Needs Dentistry 
650 0 4 |a student 
650 0 4 |a Surveys and Questionnaires 
700 1 |a Ahmad, M.S.  |e author 
700 1 |a Al-Dabbagh, M.  |e author 
700 1 |a Athale, A.  |e author 
700 1 |a Borromeo, G.L.  |e author 
700 1 |a Bozanic, M.  |e author 
700 1 |a Buckley, S.  |e author 
700 1 |a Cao, A.  |e author 
773 |t European Journal of Dental Education