Methods: The intervention group compromised the forth-year students of Tehran Dental School and the controls were the forth year students of the other big University in Tehran city who pass the community oral health course on their sixth year of study. The questionnaire of the study included the previously validated questionnaires and was assessed for content validity and reliability. The questionnaire included questions on backgrounds, knowledge and attitude of students towards preventive dentistry, and students’ satisfaction from the course. The intervention was 17 weekly sessions (hours) of the community oral health course presented by 5 faculty members during the spring semester in 2010. The educational method was lecturing together with a formative short quiz in each session. The sum score for the knowledge and attitude was calculated for each person pre- and post-intervention and changes were compared between intervention and control groups. Data analysis included General Linear Model.
Results: The students mean baseline knowledge score in the intervention group was 16.9 (SD=4.0) and for the control group 16.3 (SD=3.5). Corresponding figures were 23.7 (SD=3.4) and 17 (SD=3.3) at follow-up. General linear model showed the intervention (p<0.0001) to be successful in increasing the students’ knowledge scores on preventive dentistry. Most students (92%) were satisfied about learning several new items during the course. Among the students 57% reported their dissatisfaction from formative exams.
Conclusions: The students’ knowledge was successfully increased by passing the theoretical course of community oral health delivered by teacher-centered method of lecture. Taking advantage of student-centered methods may help in changing the students’ attitude towards preventive dentistry.