Dental Practices and Awareness toward the Impact of Periodontal Disease on Systemic Health among Medical Doctors in Jazan, Saudi Arabia.

AIM: To evaluate knowledge and awareness of medical doctors regarding the impact of periodontal disease on a set of systemic diseases. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A questionnaire-based cross-sectional study recruiting medical doctors in Jazan region. One hundred participants from four governmental hospitals in Jazan city responded to multiple-choice-question-type questionnaire. The obtained data were analyzed using SPSS version 20. For Chi-square test, p-value </=0.05 was considered significant. RESULT: In our study, participants had a positive attitude toward their self-oral hygiene practices. Regarding knowledge, only 5% got their information from medical curricula. Most of the participants (90%) agreed that oral disease impacts general health; nevertheless, their awareness of the impact of periodontal disease on specific body systems was poor. There was a significant correlation between positive oral hygiene practices and gender, age, and experience. CONCLUSION: Our study showed limited knowledge of medical doctors about the association between periodontal diseases and general health. It also reflected poor medical curricula in this regard. It is strongly recommended to include oral health-relevant subjects in medical curricula and continuous medical education programs and to stress on the joint subjects that require multidisciplinary care. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Improving the awareness of medical health providers about the association between periodontal diseases and general health improves the well-being and patient management.