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Purpose: The present randomized-controlled trial was conducted to assess the effect of Kangen water and reverse osmosis (RO) water on dental plaque, salivary pH and salivary Streptococcus mutans count. Materials and methods: This randomized control trial was conducted for 14 days on 24 randomly selected participants from the pool of undergraduate dental students. Participants were randomly divided into two groups of 12 each: the Kangen water (pH 9) group and the RO water group. Participants in each group were asked to drink allocated water for 7 days. Dental plaque, salivary pH and microbial colony-forming units (CFUs) were assessed after 7 and 14 days. Results: Intragroup comparison showed that all three outcomes showed a significant improvement in the Kangen water group after 14 days, whereas no difference was seen in the RO water group. Intergroup comparison showed a significant difference in plaque score and CFU among the two groups after 7 and 14 days, whereas pH between the two groups did not show a significant difference. Conclusions: Regular drinking of alkaline Kangen water with pH 9 was found to be effective in reducing plaque and salivary Streptococcus mutans count when compared to RO water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Prescription writing is an integral part of medical profession. Incorrect prescription writing may lead to errors in instructions about the identity of the recipient, the identity of the drug, the formulation, dose, route, timing, frequency, and duration of administration. Hence, the present survey was undertaken to assess the prescription writing skills of doctors practicing in Varanasi city. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional observational study, and 700 prescriptions dispensed by various doctors were collected for 7 consecutive days from 15 randomly selected pharmacy shops. Collected prescriptions were assessed for patient's information, doctor's information, and their legibility using predefined criteria by a calibrated examiner. Results: All the collected prescriptions lacked one or more aspects of patient's or doctor's details. About 46.2% of prescriptions lacked details about one or more drugs. Conclusion: Regarding the legibility of the prescription, it requires awareness programs for doctors to improve the quality of prescriptions. Changes in the registration system can be helpful in preventing errors in the details of the patients and doctors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: According to the notification dated May 17, 2018, no. DE-14-MDS-2018/2131 published by the Dental Council of India, basic sciences theory examination (Paper-1) will be conducted before the commencement of II-year MDS academic year instead of III-year MDS end. Hence, this study was conducted to assess the opinions regarding this recent change in the curriculum among I MDS students, II MDS students, and their respective postgraduate (PG) guides. Methodology: The study was conducted on 120 participants from three dental colleges. All the participants were interviewed using a pretested, structured questionnaire. The initial part of questionnaire consisted of demographic information of the study participants followed by ten questions targeted to assess the perception toward change in MDS examination pattern. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software v20, and Chi-square test was used for comparison of responses among PG students and PG guides. Results: Questions pertaining to the need of allowed to keep term (ATKT), assumption to improved concentration on specialization subjects, and increase in understanding of the subject have received maximum positive response. Negative responses were more for the questions such as hampering of PG curriculum, effect on dissertation selection process, and rendering quality treatment to the patient. Responses to necessity of ATKT and the assumption to better concentrate on specialization subject later differed significantly among the participants. Conclusion: The present study results revealed an overall positive perception toward the change in MDS curriculum pattern among the study participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Effective hand hygiene is one of the most cost-efficient means of preventing infectious diseases in the community. Studies conducted to assess the hand hygiene practices of the general population in India are relatively limited. The present study was conducted with the aim to assess hand hygiene practices among the participants visiting the outpatient department (OPD) of a dental institute in the Purvanchal region in India. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 880 participants visiting the OPD of a dental college in the Purvanchal region. The data were collected using a pretested questionnaire focusing on the hand hygiene practices of the participants. Statistical analysis was done using Chi-square test and the level of significance was set at 5%. Results: Results showed that 98.5% of the respondents used soap/antiseptic liquid soap or hand sanitizer. The frequency of handwashing increased with the improvement in socioeconomic status, with almost 70% of upper-class participants washing their hands daily 5–6 times or more (P = 0.001). A significant association was seen between education and extension of handwashing (P = 0.001). Conclusion: Majority of the population were using soap and water for handwashing which shows that people are aware that proper hand hygiene is necessary to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, especially COVID-19. However, more work is needed to educate people from lower socioeconomic status about good hand hygiene practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Career choice, one of the most important process in a student's life, has an influence on his/her future life. Hence, it is important to understand student's motives behind choosing a specific career. Hence, the study was designed with an aim to evaluate the factors influencing dental students to choose dentistry as career.Methods: The present cross-sectional survey was conducted on 401 dental students from a dental institute. The data was collected using a structured questionnaire consisting of 13 reasons that possibly influenced students' decision to study dentistry. Data collected was analyzed using SPSS 20 software.Results: Majority of the students participating were female (77.1%). Top four reasons to choose dentistry as a profession were to help poor people (95.5%), to earn prestige and respect (95.0%) followed by self-interest (94.7%) and study of human parts especially teeth (92.8%). Making money was the reason reported by 77.8% of the students. Other reasons reported were inspiration from other dentists (63.3%), did not get admission to medicine (MBBS) course (52.1%), and no doctor in family (51.9%). Family members in medical/dental profession was the least reported reason (36.9%). There were no significant differences among males and females for reported reasons except for one reason, that is, did not get admitted to medicine (MBBS) course (60.9% male and 48.9% female; P = 0.031).Conclusion: Students were mostly influenced by own interest and altruistic nature to opt for dental profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study compared the effectiveness of three teaching methods on the oral health status of high school children. The study population of 791 school children selected from three different schools was randomly allocated to one of three intervention groups: (i) Webinar group (Online presentation)—260 subjects, (ii) Face to Face lecture using PowerPoint presentation (F2F PP group)—261 subjects and (iii) Control group (Only lecture)—270 subjects. Subjects from the Webinar group and F2F PP group received oral health education at an interval of 15 days starting from baseline. Subjects from the control group received oral health education only at baseline. Oral Hygiene Index (OHI) and Gingival Index (GI) were measured at baseline, at 1 month, 2 months' and 3 months' interval. OHI and GI showed a significant reduction (P  = 0.001) in the Webinar group and F2F PP group; However, in the control group, OHI and GI reduced from baseline till second month and showed an increase at 3 months' interval. F2F PP group showed a maximum reduction in OHI and GI followed by the Webinar group. It can be concluded that F2F PowerPoint-based oral health education was most effective followed by the webinar method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hands are the most common medium for initiation and spread of infection in clinics. Hand hygiene is the simplest and most economic method for reducing the healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs). Aim: The aim of the present study was to compare the efficacy of hand sanitizer, liquid soap, and their combination for reducing the microbial colonies on hands. Materials and methods: The study was a single-blinded randomized controlled trial executed in a dental college on 90 participants, which were randomly assigned into three intervention groups of 30 each. The participants were instructed to contaminate their hands followed by a hand hygiene protocol for the liquid hand-wash group, the alcohol-based hand sanitizer (ABHS) group, and the combination group according to WHO guidelines. The swabs were collected pre- and post-intervention and mean colony-forming units were determined for each group. Results: Median percentage reduction was highest for the combination group (100%), followed by the ABHS group (94.29%) and lowest for the liquid soap (92.31%). This difference in the amount of colony-forming units (CFU) among all the groups was nonsignificant (p = 0.114). Conclusion: The results of the study show that there was no significant difference in hand disinfection potential among hand sanitizer, liquid soap, or their combination. All the three interventions were equally effective with the reduction of total bacterial contamination from participants' hands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]