Knowledge of Nutrition among Students in a Dental Teaching Institution in Kerala

Abstract

Introduction: Basic education about nutrition can be extremely beneficial for medical and dental professionals. It is very important that, dental students are taught about nutrition during their course of study as this will help in developing a holistic approach in treating patients. As limited literature is available regarding the nutritional knowledge among dental students, the present study was done to assess the same among students in a dental teaching institution. Materials and Methods: The awareness of dietary recommendations, knowledge of food sources and nutrients and diet–disease relationship was assessed among clinical students of a dental teaching institute in Kerala, through a 13-point self-administered questionnaire. Analysis was done based on two groups (undergraduate [UG] students and post-graduate [PG] students). Results: A total number of 140 responses were obtained. UG students comprised 31.4% while PG students comprised 68.6% of the study population. Majority (>75%) of the participants in both groups (UG and PG) felt that there is a need to consume more vegetables and fibers and less amounts of sugary and fatty foods. Among the PG students, most respondents (36%) opined that sugar contained more calories for the same weight while 34% of PG students and 44% of UG students reported that starchy food contained more calories. While more than 95% of participants associated diabetes to sugar consumption, there was a mixed response for kidney disease (47.7% in PG and 53.1% in UG; P < 0.026) and heart diseases (40.9% in PG and 38.5% in UG), respectively. Conclusion: The knowledge among dental students about dietary recommendations, knowledge of food sources and nutrients and diet–disease relationship was found to be satisfactory.

Keywords

• diet; nutrition; oral health