CLINICAL LEVEL MEDICAL STUDENTS' KNOWLEDGE OF DENTAL SPECIALITY
Objective: To assess clinical level medical students' knowledge of dental speciality
Methods: Questionnaire-based cross-sectional study of clinical level medical students of University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria, was conducted between May & June, 2010. The knowledge of the students was graded as Good (16-20), Fair (8-15) and Poor (8 & below).
Results: Out of the 350 questionnaires distributed, 279 were returned giving an overall response rate of 79.7%. Of these, 47.0%, 50.2% and 2.8% of respondents showed poor, fair and good knowledge respectively. The trend showed a significant statistical increase in the level of knowledge of dental specialty with an ascent in the clinical level (P=0.017). The respondents displayed best knowledge about the oral surgery specialty (66.7%) and the worst knowledge about the area of orthodontics (2.5%).
Conclusion: The level of knowledge of dental specialty in this survey was suboptimal and varied with different specialties which may have adverse implication in future patient care. Variation in the level of knowledge with different clinical level suggested gain in knowledge about dental speciality through non formal means among medical students.