Journal of International Dental and Medical Research ISSN 1309-100X HIV and Aids Related Knowledge and Awareness

http://www.jidmr.com Devyani Bahl and et al

HIV and AIDS Related Knowledge and Awareness among Dental Students
in Mangalore, India: A Cross Sectional Survey

Devyani Bahl1, Mranali k Shetty2*, Karthik Shetty3

1. Manipal College of Dental Sciences, Mangalore. Manipal Academy of Higher Education ,Manipal Karnataka, India-576104.
2. Department of Periodontology,Manipal College of Dental Sciences ,Mangalore. Manipal Academy of Higher Education,Manipal,
Karnataka, India-576104.
3. Department of Conservative Dentistry & Endodontics, Manipal College of Dental Sciences,Mangalore. Manipal Academy of Higher
Education Manipal,Karnataka, India-576104.

Abstract
The primary aim of this study was to evaluate and assess the knowledge of undergraduate
students towards treating HIV/AIDS patients in a dental college and the secondary objective was to
evaluate the willingness of the students to provide dental treatment to the patients suffering from
HIV/AIDS.
A cross sectional prospective study was conducted on 300 undergraduate students based on a
study questionnaire which consisted of 3 parts to assess their knowledge and willingness to treat
HIV/AIDS patients. Part 1 consisted of questions on general knowledge and awareness about HIV
and AIDS. Part 2 had questions about the oral manifestations seen/ present in AIDS and the third
part assessed the student’s attitude and awareness to treat patients with AIDS. The responses
were recorded, and the collected data was subjected to statistical analysis.
No statistically significant difference in knowledge was found between the students belonging to
the different academic years . In our study the students didn’t show any inhibition to treat HIV/AIDS
patients.
According to the results of our study incorporation of HIV/AIDS related teaching material in to
the undergraduate curriculum is very important as the clinical exposure begins from the third year
onwards considering that the undergraduate students will be responsible for clinical decision
making of such medically compromised patients it is imperative that they do so on the basis of
sound technical knowledge.
Clinical article (J Int Dent Med Res 2020; 13(4): 1355-1358)
Keywords: HIV / AIDS, knowledge, attitude, dental students.
Received date: 27 August 2020 Accept date: 08 October 2020

Introduction The risk of transmission of virus from

patient to health care staff has been estimated at
HIV was first reported in the literature as 0.3%, following the single percutaneous
early during the 1980s. The estimated exposure to blood infected with HIV. 3 This brings
prevalence of AIDS in India is between 0.91% - in the importance of knowledge about the
0.22%.1 The risk of transmission of HIV is universal precautions to be undertaken in case of
generally through direct contact via blood or body treating such patients. The stigma associated
fluids. Recently, saliva has also been shown to with treatment of HIV affected individuals refrains
transmit the disease if contaminated with blood, them from getting proper oral health care.
however the possibility is as low as 0.03%. This Various Methods have been used to
has therefore led to the focus on the risk of cross evaluate and improve the knowledge and attitude
infection in dental setup.2 of students about HIV according to the literature. 4
Hence, as future healthcare providers, it
*Corresponding author:
is of paramount importance that all dental
Dr Mranali K Shetty students have adequate knowledge, awareness
Associate Professor Department of Periodontology, and skills to diagnose, manage and take
Manipal College Of Dental Sciences ,Mangalore.Manipal precautions required to avoid transmission of HIV
Academy Of Higher Education,Manipal, Karnataka, India-576104
E-mail:[email protected] in the dental set up along with providing timely
dental care to HIV/AIDS patients.

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 Journal of International Dental and Medical Research ISSN 1309-100X HIV and Aids Related Knowledge and Awareness
http://www.jidmr.com Devyani Bahl and et al

Therefore, a cross sectional study was male to female ratio is 1:4. The gender and year
designed to assess the knowledge and wise distribution of the students is given.(Graph
awareness of dental students by interviewing 1)
them through a study questionnaire. Based on
this it also determined their willingness to provide
dental treatment to such patients.

Materials and methods

A cross sectional prospective

questionnaire study was conducted among 300
undergraduate dental students studying in the
third year,final year and interns at the Manipal
College of Dental Sciences, Mangalore, Graph 1. Distribution of dental students
Karnataka . These students were selected as according to gender and year of study.
they were treating patients in their clinical
postings. On subjecting the recorded responses to
The ethical clearance was obtained from statistical analyses, it was observed that for the
the Institutional Ethics Committee for conducting first part of the questionnaire which was about
the study. The survey questionnaire which was the basic knowledge regarding HIV and AIDS,
originally used by Sadeghi M and Hakimi was third year students seemed to have unclear
modified and was adapted for this study 5 . details about the disease. When asked if saliva
The first part consisted of 6 closed-ended can be vehicle for transmission around 57.10%
questions concerning the general knowledge and third years, 41.70% final years and
awareness about HIV and AIDS. The second part 33.30%interns have answered yes. If dental
had 9 questions about the oral manifestations aerosols can transmit HIV, 44.90% third years,
seen/ present in HIV/AIDS. The third section 40% final years and 31% interns have answered
included 6 questions regarding the student’s yes. Around 50% students from all years
attitude and awareness to treat patients with HIV/ answered to hot air sterilization being effective
AIDS. The response was rated on 5-point Likert against HIV (Graph 2). Overall, the year of study
scale using option of strongly agree, agree, affected the level of knowledge with the finals
neutral, disagree and strongly disagree. years or interns having more idea about the
The questionnaire was distributed to the disease process, similar to a finding by
students and ample time was given to the Raghavendra et al.6
students to fill the questionnaire. Before filling the
questionnaire, all the participants were also
provided with an informed consent form to give
their consent for the study.
The collected data was subjected to
statistical analysis. Statistical analysis was
carried out using SPSS (statistical package for
social sciences) version 20. Descriptive statistics
are reported. P value was set at <0.05. Chi-
Square test was applied to check the association
between groups. The study was carried over a
period of 6 months.

Results
Graph 2. Knowledge and awareness about
The questionnaire was distributed to 300 HIV/AIDS.
students out of which 98 were third years, 115
were final years and 87 were interns. The age of The second part of the questionnaire was
the participants ranged from 20 -26 years and the about the oral manifestations seen in AIDS. More

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 Journal of International Dental and Medical Research ISSN 1309-100X HIV and Aids Related Knowledge and Awareness
http://www.jidmr.com Devyani Bahl and et al

than 90% of the students have correctly identified done in Shimla, India9. When asked how
manifestations such as candidiasis, oral hairy confident they feel on being able to safely treat a
leukoplakia, Kaposi’s sarcoma, ANUG and HIV/AIDS patient using universal precautions,
chronic periodontitis, similar to a study done on around 90% males and 88% females said they
Nigerian dental students by Oberoi et al 7 and feel confident in treating such patients. On asking
Ajayi et al.8 Around 62% third years have if such patients can be assimilated into the
answered yes about common manifestations like society normally, 80% males and 74.22%
lichen planus, xerostomia and linear gingival females agreed. When asked their views on
erythema being seen. Around 40% said that whether HIV patients should be treated in a
these diseases are not visible in AIDS patients. separate ward, 40% males and females
Amongst final years and interns, it was seen that disagreed the fact whereas 34% males and 27%
40% students believe lichen planus is not seen in females agreed for the same. 33% males and
AIDS. Around 20-30% students have answered 28% females responded neutral. 92% males and
no for some of the common oral manifestations 88.44% females agreed that they were morally
like lichen planus and xerostomia. (Graph 3). bound to treat HIV and AIDS patients (Table1)
A similar study in Nigeria by Azodo et al had
shown low inclination of the dental students to
treat HIV/AIDS patients in contrast to the positive
results obtained in this study10.

Table 1. Attitude towards treating HIV/AIDS

patients.

Graph 3. Knowledge and awareness about oral Overall, the results showed that students
manifestations of HIV/AIDS - (answered yes). agreed to treat such patients without any
hesitation (Graph 4). Based on gender, no
significant difference in the attitude was seen.
Both male and female students were equally
willing to treat HIV patients in clinics, similar to as
reported by Agarwal 11 and Ahamed12 (Graph 5).

Graph 4. Attitude of students towards HIV/AIDS

patients.

The third part of the questionnaire was to

check their attitude towards patients. The overall
attitude was positive response by the students as
compared to a previous study by Fotedar et al Graph 5. Gender ratio in the study.

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 Journal of International Dental and Medical Research ISSN 1309-100X HIV and Aids Related Knowledge and Awareness
http://www.jidmr.com Devyani Bahl and et al

On subjecting the data to ANOVA, no Conclusions

statistical difference was found in knowledge and
awareness between the students of three years According to the results of our study
(Table 2).When subjected to Chi square test no incorporation of HIV/AIDS related teaching
association was found between the knowledge material in to the undergraduate curriculum is
and awareness of the students in turn affecting very important as the clinical exposure begins
their willingness to treat HIV/AIDS patients (Table from the third year onwards considering that the
3) undergraduate students will be responsible for
clinical decision making of such medically
compromised patients it is imperative that they
do so on the basis of sound technical knowledge.

Declaration of Interest
The authors report no conflict of interest.

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