Knowledge and attitudes of dental students and interns on minimally invasive dentistry for pediatric dentistry at King Saud University.

Background: Minimally invasive dentistry (MID) is a conservative approach focusing on early diagnosis and minimally invasive procedures to prevent the progression of carious lesions.The aim of the study was to assess the knowledge of minimally invasive dentistry among dental students and interns and encourage them to improve their attitudes towards minimally invasive pediatric dentistry (MIPD).

Methods: A validated questionnaire used to test the knowledge level of 4th, 5th years dental students and interns was distributed prior to an interventional lecture, followed by an educational lecture on the minimally invasive techniques used in pediatric dentistry and later a post-intervention questionnaire distributed to the dental students and interns.

Results: Almost 74% from the 183 study participants reported that they were aware of the term MIPD,73.8% of them had responded positively, and a higher proportion 65.6% of them knew about this through lectures.The study subject's knowledge about MIPD was assessed before they attended the lecture on this topic and after the lecture in multiple responses, where the proportion for different procedures had increased from pre-intervention to post-intervention.

Conclusion: It can be concluded that the dental students and interns have an acceptable amount of knowledge on MIPD. However, there is a lack of knowledge on when to use these techniques and how to apply them.