oral manifestations | Acta Medica Marisiensis

Decision Support System in Dental Practice. Evaluation of Dental Professionals Acceptance Level

Ghiga Dana¹, Petrişor M², Haifa B², Bacârea V¹, Şchiopu A³

1 Department of Research Methodology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Tîrgu Mureş, Romania
2 Department of Medical Informatics and Biostatistics, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Tîrgu Mureş, Romania
3 Department of Physiopathology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Tîrgu Mureş, Romania

Objective: The aim of this study is to assess the level of acceptance by the dental practitioners to implement a software application that allows a presumptive diagnosis of the systemic diseases based on the oral manifestations.
Methods: First we developed a questionnaire to assess the degree of acceptance for the implementation of a dental patient’s management information system. The initial questionnaire was applied to a number of 54 dentists from several cities. The questionnaire contains 6 questions evolving from simple to complex. The final evaluation was made after the presentation of the dental patients management software application, and respondents were asked to complete an evaluation questionnaire regarding the application submitted and its applicability in the dental office.
Results: We compared the scores average from the final questionnaire, for the groups formed after evaluating the first questionnaire results.
Conclusions: Most of the respondents found this computer based decision support system to be easy to use, scientifically well documented and enables accurate and quality documentation of patient data.

Introduction. The aim of the study was to evaluate the frequency of dental caries in adults patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease.
Material and method. A cross-sectional study was performed between November 2013 and October 2014. All subjects who agreed to participate to the study were asked to complete a questionnaire regarding personal information, oral hygiene and dental evaluation. The individuals with complete false teeth (superior and inferior removable prosthetic devices) were excluded from the study. The study included 134 people divided in two groups, based on upper gastrointestinal endoscopy: a group with gastroesophageal reflux disease (71), and a control group (63). Dental evaluation was performed by a dentist blind to the diagnosis of the subjects. Dental caries were evaluated by applying the decayed, missing, and filled teeth index (DMFT index). The statistical significance was defined as p<0.05.
Results. From 71 subjects included in GERD group, 33 (46.48%) were males and 38 females (53.52%) with a mean age of 44.99±11.19 (42, 59.15% from urban area and 29, 40.85%, from rural area). In the control group we included 28 (44.44%) males and 35 (55.56%) females (mean age 43.84±9.48) and 29 (46.03%) subjects were from urban area and 34 (53.97%) from rural area. DMFT index in GERD group was 19.49±4.28 and in control group 18.16±4.54 (p<0.05).
Conclusions. The present study showed that there is no difference between GERD and control group, regarding the frequency of dental caries.