Awareness and Knowledge of Undergraduate Dental Students about Sterilization/Disinfection Methods of Extracted Human Teeth

Abstract

Background: Dental undergraduate students work on extracted human teeth in preclinical practical’s to learn technical skills before entering the clinics and delivering dental care to the patients.
Aim: The aim of the present investigation was to assess the awareness and knowledge toward sterilization/disinfection methods of extracted human teeth in a selected group of Indian dental students.
Materials and Methods: In this descriptive cross‑sectional study, the participants consisted of 2nd‑, 3rd‑, 4th‑, and 5th‑year dental students. Data were collected by questionnaires and analyzed by Mann–Whitney U‑test and Kruskal–Wallis test using SPSS software version 16 for Windows (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA).
Results: In this study, 235 dental students participated in the study. The average awareness and knowledge score was 7.27 (1.92). Based on the opinion of 57% (134/235) students, hydrogen peroxide was selected as the suitable material for sterilization and 24.6% (58/235) students believed that autoclave sterilization is a good way for the purpose.
Conclusion: The results of this investigation indicated that awareness and knowledge of undergraduate dental students in relation to sterilization/disinfection methods of extracted human teeth were good. However, deficiencies were observed in relation to teaching the material and methods suitable for sterilization.

Keywords: Awareness, Dental student, Extracted human teeth, Knowledge