2019 Volume 35 Issue 3 Pages 113-120
Abstract Dentists are required to work not only in their offices but also in the community at times. In Japan, the need for homebound dentistry has grown due to an increase in the elderly population who are unable to visit dental offices. In addition, with the recent increase in natural disasters, dental professionals must consider ways to see patients after a disaster strikes a community. Often, dentists cannot see patients under optimal conditions ; therefore, dental health checkups at schools are considered to be good opportunities for trainee dentists to learn the skills of examining many patients on a non-dental chair without sufficient lighting and X-ray machines. The training of diagnostic ability is essential for good dental treatment, and dentists who are able to give a quick examination outside their office could then give a closer examination and a definite diagnosis in their office. In view of the need for dentists to see patients more often under diverse conditions including homebound dentistry, Hiroshima University introduced dental checkups as part of health checkups for freshmen in 2014, where the role of examiner at dental checkup was assigned to trainee dentists as part of their postgraduate clinical training.
In the present study, a questionnaire survey relating to dental checkups was conducted for trainee dentists who performed checkups for freshmen and had finished one year of postgraduate clinical training. As a result, they responded that it was worthwhile performing the checkups even in the beginning stages of their training. However, support from their instructors was considered necessary because trainee dentists had not yet built confidence in their diagnostic ability.
