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DOI: DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21088/ijfo.0974.505X.11218.3

Abstract

  Objective: To evaluate the knowledge, awareness and necessity of forensic odontologyamong the students of AIMSTU university. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional, institution-based survey was conducted among 200 undergraduate clinical years, dental students. Simple random sampling was done. Each participant was given a questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of a set of 15 questions. Questions comprised of both yes or no and multiple choices. The answers received were tabulated and statistically analyzed. Results: All the participants were aware of forensic odontology, a branch in dentistry, yet overall results in current study shows only 52% graded as good, 39.5% of students as fair and 8.5% were graded as poor, depending on the number of correct answers. 78% of respondent’s feel the knowledge they attain is very less regarding the subject and therefore wants it to be incorporated in the syllabus. Whereas only 67% of students wish to attend the seminars and workshops related to forensic odontology. Conclusion: 13 dental schools in Malaysia but none of them are offering this course; hence Forensic odontology must be introduced into the BDS curriculum efficiently as a separate subject so that the students get aware and familiar with the required knowledge. Thus the nation needs more of these qualified forensic odontologists. 

Keywords: Awareness; Undergraduate Dental Students; Forensic Odontology; Knowledge; Malaysian BDS Curriculum; Survey.

Corresponding Author : Veena Naik, Associate Professor, Oral Medicine and Maxillofacial Radiology, Faculty of Dentistry, AIMST University, Jalan Bedong, Semeling, 08100 Bedong, Kedah Darul Aman, Malaysia.