Teaching Others, Reflecting Self: Does Educating Patients Impact Students' Own Plaque Control?

Area of Science:

• Dental Education
• Oral Hygiene Research
• Clinical Skills Assessment

Background:

• Investigating the impact of patient education on dental students' self-care.
• Exploring the effectiveness of an Oral Care Programme (OCP) in improving hygiene.
• Retrospective analysis of dental students' oral hygiene practices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if instructing patients in oral hygiene influences dental students' own hygiene effectiveness.
• To analyze changes in plaque coverage and distribution among dental students.
• To identify patterns in plaque control and areas for targeted intervention.

Main Methods:

• Intraoral scans of 30 first-year dental students at baseline (T0) and follow-up (T1).
• Quantification of plaque coverage (P%) on oral and vestibular surfaces.
• Unsupervised clustering based on plaque metrics, tooth type, and surface.

Main Results:

• Mean plaque coverage decreased slightly from 14.6% to 13.1% (p=0.025), with small changes.
• Strong correlation (r=0.690) between T0 and T1 plaque coverage, indicating stable individual profiles.
• Cluster analysis revealed three distinct plaque control patterns, with largely persistent plaque distribution.

Conclusions:

• Dental students exhibited limited improvement in oral hygiene over one semester.
• Individual plaque control patterns were stable, highlighting heterogeneity in student effectiveness.
• Curricula should focus on self-reflection, personalized feedback, and practical skills for better oral hygiene outcomes.