A Cross-Sectional Study Assessing Undergraduate Students' Perceptions of Eating Disorders in a Dental Institution in...

 Dentists and dental hygienists often lack knowledge about eating disorders (ED) and are reluctant to inform patients. This highlights the need for improved education to encourage their involvement in ED prevention and management. Hence, this study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and clinical experience related to ED among undergraduate students in a dental institute in Sangli city.

A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted among 250 third- and final-year students and interns in a dental institute in Sangli city. A self-designed questionnaire consisting of 20 questions was used to assess the knowledge, attitude, and clinical experience of students about ED. The questionnaire was tested for reliability and validity and was distributed through Google Forms (Mountain View, CA: Google LLC). SPSS (Chicago, IL: IBM Corp.) software was used for statistical analysis of data and a chi-squared test was performed.

This study reveals that undergraduate dental students lacked the knowledge and experience to effectively communicate with patients who have eating disorders. Despite being familiar with the term, most participants lacked the clinical expertise to identify and guide patients with ED. The study found that 87% (n=146) of participants were familiar with the term "eating disorder" (p=0.039) with 44% (n=88) believing only hypovitaminosis was an eating disorder, 36% (n=72) believing bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder were eating disorders (p=0.024), and 83% (n=166) believing there is a clear association between erosion and bulimia (p=0.055).

This study found that while most participants are aware of eating disorders, they lack clinical exposure and proper guidance, indicating the need for appropriate seminars and skill development workshops.