Academic institutions would benefit by examining models to educate dental and medical students and residents on how best to address the oral health needs of infants. However, research on educational interventions related to infant oral health care is limited. We hypothesized that viewing a concise, educational visual presentation with video would provide instructive information to infant oral health. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate an infant oral health educational intervention targeted to dental students and medical residents. 

A PowerPoint and video educational intervention was effective in teaching dental students and pediatric medicine residents’ basic information on infant oral health. Dental students lack adequate knowledge on infant oral health, so there is a need to increase their knowledge through effective teaching. The study participants reported greater interest and increased knowledge, and that this information will change their daily practice for infant oral health.

The educational intervention used in this study provided the steps of the infant oral examination and instructive information which increase the participant’s ability to examine infants and improve parent education, which will improve the oral health status of infants in the society. More research should be done on the long-term retention of the information. Knowing the information/intervention used in this study plus hands-on experience with related procedures will increase the student’s and residents ability to participate more in the prevention of oral diseases in infants. 

One hundred and twenty-eight dental students participated in the study. Assessment by questionnaire was completed immediately before and after introduction of educational intervention, in the form of a PowerPoint presentation and video on oral health of infants. Similar approach was performed for pediatric medicine residents. The 18-item multiple-choice questionnaire was based on information presented in the presentation.

A significant difference (P < 0.001) was found between average pretest scores (9.30 ± 2.24), and average post-test scores (12.56 ± 2.05) for all the groups (D2–D5, Table 1). The highest percentage of improvement in the post-test as compared with the pretest was recorded for group D2 (50.6%) followed by D3 (40%), D4 (35%), and D5 (23%). One hundred and twenty-six (98.4%) study participants found the presentation helpful in improving their understanding of infant oral health, and 77 (60.2%) were very satisfied with the presentation. Sixty-six participants (51.6%) reported that the presentation was very effective in teaching them about infant oral health, and 83 (65%) were very likely to incorporate this information into their daily practice. Figures 1-3 show more results.

The authors are grateful to all the students and residents who participated in the study and to Mr. Nassr Al-Maflehi for his help during the statistical analysis. This research was supported by the College of Dentistry Research Center, King Saud University.

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