Assessment of knowledge of anterior dental esthetics amongst various groups of dentists in Lahore

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to,
Assess the need of change in undergraduate dental curriculum according to the changing modern dental examination methods for improved dental esthetics
Compare the effect of experience after graduation on the level of knowledge in various groups of dentists.
Methods: A cross sectional survey was carried out amongst the house surgeons, general dentists and specialists of (prosthodontics, maxillofacial surgery. Operative dentistry, periodontics, orthodontics ) in six dental colleges in Lahore district in June 2014. A data of total two hundred and eighty four (n=284) of study subjects were collected. The demographic details were descriptive of practitioners” age, gender, category and year of graduation. The second part of survey form composed of 30 closed ended (yes or no) survey questions about knowledge about dental and gingival esthetics.
Data was analyzed on Spss version 20.0. Chi square test was utilized to assess the association amongst various variables. p value ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results: The results showed only 141 (49.6%) out of 284 dentists had satisfactory knowledge about Gingival esthetics and 143 (50.4%) had not satisfactory knowledge gingival esthetics. However 261 (91.9%) out of 284 dentists had satisfactory knowledge about anterior dental aesthetics. Satisfactory knowledge about gingival aesthetics was higher in prostho/restorative/perio specialty(76.1%) as compared to other categories, showing statistical significance(p ˂0.001).
Dentists with >10 years experience had satisfactory knowledge(73.1%) about gingival esthetics than those with ˂ 10 years experience (p=0.008)
Conclusions: It was concluded that all aspects of esthetics(dental and gingival) may be taught in detail at undergraduate level for better clinical application afterwards in various fields. Although dentists with >10 years experience had satisfactory knowledge, but continuing dental education can improve the out come of budding professionals.