COMPETITIVE STRATEGY MODEL AND ITS IMPACT ON MICRO BUSINESS UNITOF LOCAL DEVELOPMENT BANKSIN JAWA PJAEE, 17 (7)

7) (2020)

KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE TOWARDS OBSTACLES AND DISPUTES

FACED BY FIRST YEAR DENTAL STUDENTS

Praneeksha.R1, R. Gayatri Devi2, A. Jothi Priya3, Saravana Kumar.S4

1
Saveetha Dental College,Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences (SIMATS)
Saveetha University, Chennai, India.
2
AssistantProfessorDepartment of physiologySaveetha Dental College,Saveetha Institute of
Medical and Technical Sciences (SIMATS)Saveetha University, 162,poonamallee high road
Chennai-600077,Tamilnadu, India.
3
AssistantProfessorDepartment of physiologySaveetha Dental College,
Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences (SIMATS)Saveetha University,
Chennai, India.
4
AssistantProfessorDepartment of AnatomySEGI university,Malaysia
2
gayatridevi@saveetha.com

Praneeksha. R, R. Gayatri Devi, A. Jothi Priya, Saravana Kumar. S. KNOWLEDGE,

ATTITUDE TOWARDS OBSTACLES AND DISPUTES FACED BY FIRST YEAR
DENTAL STUDENTS-- Palarch’s Journal Of Archaeology Of Egypt/Egyptology
17(7), 1664-1671. ISSN 1567-214x

Keywords: Challenges, Professionals, Communication, Dentistry, Students

ABSTRACT
Problems and disputes are situational demands and the individuals ability and motivation to
meet those needs. During the first and second year of the dental curriculum, students have
little time to process and learn the didactic material in a meaningful way because of the large
number of required courses in the curriculum. If an outcome of dental education is to promote
critical thinking, however, methods need to be explored to encourage this process in dental
students throughout the curriculum. Reflecting on experience is the way learners "make
meaning" out of the information they acquire, and "making meaning" is an integral
component in the development of critical thinking. The aim of this study is to assess disputes
faced by the first year dental students. A questionnaire was prepared and administered to 100
participants through survey monkeys – an online survey. The study participants included
people belonging to the first year of a dental college. Before the start of study, a detailed
explanation was given to the participants. Once the survey was done, data was collected and
analysed by using proper statistics. From this study, the first year dental students are facing

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challenges related to communications, adapting to the extensive study methods. They also
had problems with the language and during pre-clinical and also upholding their
confidentiality. From this survey, it is evident that many of the first year dental students were
facing problems even though being in this field is hard they enjoy knowing more about it and
also being in this field.

INTRODUCTION
Problems and disputes are situational demands and the individuals ability and
motivation to meet those needs. During the first and second year of the dental
curriculum, students have little time to process and learn the didactic material
in a meaningful way because of the large number of required courses in the
curriculum. If an outcome of dental education is to promote critical thinking,
however, methods need to be explored to encourage this process in dental
students throughout the curriculum. Reflecting on experience is the way
learners "make meaning" out of the information they acquire, and "making
meaning" is an integral component in the development of critical thinking. To
an extent, facing problems are tolerable , but if it goes out of control negative
results along with health problems will be caused to the individuals. Owing to
scarcity of literature pertaining to challenges faced by first year dental
students,a research was conducted (Gupta et al., 2016). Stress is significantly
influenced by one’s personal system of beliefs and attitudes. Stress can either
motivate the student to peak performance or reduce their effectiveness in
different degrees (Al-Saleh et al., 2010). Dentistry has been frequently rated as
an exceptionally stressful profession; starting as a student and progressing into
clinical practice after graduation (Sriram, 2016). The clinical training causes
major stress and the curriculum expects the students to excel both theoretically
and clinically and also the students are demanded to extend the working hours
(Mahmood et al., 2019). Physiological distress is found in the female students
whereas distress is found in male students. They also reported that stress is
found more in the early years of the course than the final years (Aboalshamat,
Hou and Strodl, 2015). The increased work put upon students affects their
academic life as well as their personal life (Babar et al., 2015)]. Some
researchers identified that too much work, followed by examinations and the
fear of facing failures causes the major problem in students which leads to
anxiety, stress (Al-Samadani and Al-Dharrab, 2013). The interns also face
problems like mistreatment like verbal and academic abuses were most
common during clinical training (Al-Shafaee et al., 2013). Workload,
performance pressure and self efficacy developed the stress within the students
making them lose their confidence towards the goal they had perceived
(Sedky, 2012). The increased stress among the students cost them losing their
self confidence and their personality, other personal characteristics which
create a great loss for the student (Divaris et al., 2014).
The main aim of this study is to assess the obstacles and disputes faced by the
first year dental students.

MATERIALS AND METHOD:

Self-administrated questionnaire was designed based on awareness. The
questionnaire was distributed through an online survey monkey link. The

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study population included people belonging to first years of a dental college.

The participants were explained about the purpose of study in detail. The
questions were carefully studied and the participants marked the
corresponding answers. The data was collected and statistically analyzed.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:

In the present study, the majority 68% of them responded that they were aware
about the course and the remaining 32% were not aware about it [Figure 1].
65% of them find it difficult to adapt from the learning system of school to
college and 35% of the participants find it easy to adapt to the learning system
in the college. [Figure 2]. 54% of the students feel comfortable in voicing
their concerns to their supervisor and 46% students are not comfortable in
voicing their concerns to their supervisors [Figure 3]. 60% of the students
answered that they do not get enough sleep due to work and 40% students
answered that they get enough sleep even though they have work [Figure 4].
52% of the students find it difficult to communicate with patients with
different diseases and 48% of the students feel comfortable and confident to
communicate with patients [Figure 5]. 70% of the students find it easy to
update themselves with the new technologies and 30% students find it difficult
to update themselves with the new technologies [Figure 6]. 50% of students
chose dentistry out of their own interest and 50% participants chose dentistry
due to unavoidable circumstances [Figure 7]. 48% of the students think that
being a dental student is complicated and 52% answered that being a dental
student is not complicated [Figure 8]. 66% of the students find their subjects
hard to study and 34% students find all their subjects to be easy [Figure 9].
80% of the students answered that they enjoy being in this field and 20%
students answered that they do not enjoy being in this field [Figure 10].

In the previous study, 69.9% students faced high level depression, 66.4%
students with anxiety and 70.9% of the students had stress which was similar
to the current study result (Aboalshamat, Hou and Strodl, 2015). 53% students
from the dental colleges of Saudi show high levels (Al-Saleh et al., 2010).
59% of the students reported that females have major stress and 57% fear is all
about examinations and grading (Al-Samadani and Al-Dharrab, 2013). 96%
of the students perceived that mistreatment exists and 87% students reported
verbal abuses are common (Al-Shafaee et al., 2013) and according to this
article 54% students feel uncomfortable in voicing their concerns to their
higher authorities. According to the article (B and Srilatha, 2019) the students
found it difficult to present themselves during seminars. A similar question
was asked in this article and 52% students found it difficult to communicate
with the patients. According to the previous study (Chowdhury et al., no date)
the students have an unknown fear and anxiety about the subjects and classes
they attend. A similar question was asked in this current study about the
difficulty level of the subjects and 66% of the students find their subjects hard
to study. According to preceding study (Silverstein and Kritz-Silverstein,
2010) stress level was more among first year dental students. According to
existing study, (Lalumandier, Victoroff and Thuernagle, 2004) they have
explained about the early clinical experience for the first year dental students
and study (Avramova, 2014) has explained about the attitude and motivation

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to join dental colleges. A similar question was asked in this article and 50%
students answered they have joined dental colleges out of their own interests.

Figure:1 Pie chart representing the percentage distribution of the study

participants knowing about dentistry before joining the college. Majority of
the participants 68% answered yes (blue), 32% answered no (red).

Figure:2 Pie chart representing the percentage distribution of the students

difficulty to adapt from the learning system in school to college. Majority of
the participants 65% answered yes (blue),35% answered no (red).

Figure:3 Pie chart representing the percentage distribution of the comfortable

feeling among study participants to voice their concerns to their superiors.
Majority of the participants 54% answered comfortable (blue), 46% answered
not comfortable (red).

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Figure:4 Pie chart representing the percentage distribution of study

participants getting enough time to sleep. Majority of the participants 60%
answered No (red), 40% answered Yes (blue).

Figure:5 Pie chart representing the percentage distribution for the students
finding it difficult to communicate with patients with different diseases.
Majority of the participants 52% answered yes (blue),48% answered no (red).

Figure:6 Pie chart representing the percentage distribution of the study

participants difficulty level in updating themselves with the new technologies
in dentistry. Majority of the participants 70% answered yes (blue),30%
answered no (red).

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Figure:7 Pie chart representing the percentage distribution of study

participants choosing dentistry out of their own interest. The study participants
50% answered yes (blue),50% answered no (red).

Figure:8 Pie chart representing the percentage distribution of the study

participants feeling that being a dental student is complicated. Majority of the
participants 52% answered no (red),48% answered yes (blue).

Figure:9 Pie chart representing the percentage distribution of the study

participants feeling that their subjects are easy. Majority of the participants
66% answered no (red), 34% answered yes (blue).

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Figure:10 Pie chart representing the percentage distribution of the study

participants enjoying being in this field. Majority of the participants 80%
answered yes (blue), 20% answered no (red).

CONCLUSION:
From this survey, it is evident that many of the first year dental students were
facing problems and also have given information about overcoming these
obstacles. Even though being in this field is hard, they enjoy knowing more
about it and also being in this field. Considering all the disputes faced by the
students more remedies can be created and betterment can be made.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:
The author would like to thank the study participants for their participation
and kind cooperation

FUNDING SUPPORT:
NONE

CONFLICT OFINTEREST:
All the authors in this study have none to declare

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