Abstract:

AIM: The aim of this study was to assess the opinions of fifth year medical students on the responsibilities of primary health care physicians in oral and dental health (ODH). METHOD: This descriptive type study was carried out during the 2002-2003 school year on 197 (87.9%) of 224 fifth year students who were attending their Public Health training period. The students were given a questionnaire which they answered under observation. The SPSS program was used in the analysis of the data RESULTS: The average of age of the students was 22.71±1.28, and 51.8% were males. 90.9% of the students that ODH services are part of the responsibilities of primary health care physicians, but only 11.7% of them thought they had sufficient knowledge and skill about these functions. A fraction (36.0%) of the students thought they were partially equipped to carry out these functions. CONCLUSION: Many of future physicians are aware that ODH services are within the responsibilities of the physicians. However, only a small fraction of the students thought that their knowledge and skills about ODH was appropriate. Medical school curricula need to be revised to improve the provision of knowledge and skills to the students on ODH.

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