Nigerian clinical level medical students' knowledge of dental specialty.

BACKGROUND: The roles of physicians in oral healthcare delivery are very important due to the unequal distribution of the low oral health manpower as well as the lack of awareness of patients concerning the treatment of oral health problems by dentists in Nigeria.

AIM: To assess the Nigerian clinical level medical students' knowledge of dental problems and conditions in relation to the dental specialty that treat them.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This questionnaire-based cross-sectional study of clinical level medical students of University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria, was conducted between May and June, 2010. The knowledge of the students was graded as good (16-20), fair (8-15), and poor (<8).

RESULTS: Out of the 350 questionnaires distributed, 279 were filled and returned giving an overall response rate of 79.7% (279/350). Of these, 47.0% (131/279), 50.2% (140/279), and 2.8% (8/279) of respondents showed poor, fair and good knowledge respectively. The trend showed a statistically significant increase in the mean level of knowledge of dental specialty with an ascent in the clinical level (P = 0.01).

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. The variation in the level of knowledge with different clinical level suggested gain in knowledge about dental specialty mainly through nonformal means among medical students.