Utilizing decision tree machine model to map dental students' preferred learning styles with suitable instructional strategies.

BACKGROUND: Growing demand for student-centered learning (SCL) has been observed in higher education settings including dentistry. However, application of SCL in dental education is limited. Hence, this study aimed to facilitate SCL application in dentistry utilising a decision tree machine learning (ML) technique to map dental students' preferred learning styles (LS) with suitable instructional strategies (IS) as a promising approach to develop an IS recommender tool for dental students. METHODS: A total of 255 dental students in Universiti Malaya completed the modified Index of Learning Styles (m-ILS) questionnaire containing 44 items which classified them into their respective LS. The collected data, referred to as dataset, was used in a decision tree supervised learning to automate the mapping of students' learning styles with the most suitable IS. The accuracy of the ML-empowered IS recommender tool was then evaluated. RESULTS: The application of a decision tree model in the automation process of the mapping between LS (input) and IS (target output) was able to instantly generate the list of suitable instructional strategies for each dental student. The IS recommender tool demonstrated perfect precision and recall for overall model accuracy, suggesting a good sensitivity and specificity in mapping LS with IS. CONCLUSION: The decision tree ML empowered IS recommender tool was proven to be accurate at matching dental students' learning styles with the relevant instructional strategies. This tool provides a workable path to planning student-centered lessons or modules that potentially will enhance the learning experience of the students.

Oral Diseases and Quality of Life between Obese and Normal Weight Adolescents: A Two-Year Observational Study.

This study aimed to investigate the association between oral disease burden and oral health related quality of life (OHRQoL) among overweight/obese (OW/OB) and normal weight (NW) Malaysian adolescents. A total of 397 adolescents were involved in the two-year prospective observational cohort study. OHRQOL was measured through a self-administered questionnaire containing the short version of the Malaysian Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP[M]). Body mass index (BMI) was used for anthropometric measurement. Whilst, decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT) index, Significant Caries Index (SiC), simplified basic periodontal examination (S-BPE), and gingival bleeding index (GBI) were used for clinical assessment tools. Higher dental caries prevalence was observed in the NW group while higher SiC was reported in the OW/OB group. Regardless of the obesity status, the prevalence of gingivitis (BPE code 1 and 2) was high in this study. A reduction of GBI prevalence was observed in the two-year follow-up results with an increased prevalence of OHRQoL impact in the OW/OB group compared to the NW group (p > 0.05). The findings from this study suggested that obesity status did not have influence over the burden of oral diseases and OHRQoL. It offers insights referring to the changes in adolescents' oral diseases burden and OHRQoL.

Oral health-related quality of life among 11-12 year old indigenous children in Malaysia.

BACKGROUND: Poor oral health among Malaysian indigenous Orang Asli (OA) children may impact on their daily performances. AIM: To assess the oral health status, related behaviours, and oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) among OA children in Cameron Highlands (CH), Malaysia, and to identify the predictor(s) for poor OHRQoL. DESIGN: This was a cross-sectional study involving 249, 11-12 year old OA children from 4 OA primary schools in CH. The children completed a self-administered questionnaire comprising information on socio-demographics, oral health-related behaviours, and the Malay Child Oral Impacts on Daily Performances (Malay Child-OIDP) index followed by an oral examination. Data were entered into the SPSS version 23.0 software. Non-parametric tests and multiple logistic regression were used for data analysis. RESULTS: The response rate was 91.2% (n = 227/249). The prevalence of caries was 61.6% (mean DMFT = 1.36, mean dft = 1.01) and for gingivitis was 96.0%. Despite the majority reported brushing their teeth ≥ 2x/day (83.7%) with fluoride toothpaste (80.2%), more than two-thirds chewed betel nut ≥ 1/day (67.4%). Majority of the children (97.8%) had a dental check-up once a year. Nearly three-fifths (58.6%) reported experiencing oral impacts on their daily performances in the past 3 months (mean score = 5.45, SD = 8.5). Most of the impacts were of "very little" to "moderate" levels of impact intensity with 90.2% had up to 4 daily performances affected. Most of the impacts were on eating (35.2%), cleaning teeth (22.0%) and relaxing activities (15.9%). Caries in primary teeth is associated with oral impacts among the OA children. CONCLUSIONS: The 11-12 year old OA children in Cameron Highland had high prevalence of caries and gingivitis with the majority chewed betel nut regularly. Caries in primary teeth is associated with poor OHRQoL. Future programmes should target younger age group children to promote positive oral hygiene practices, reduce caries, and improve quality of life.

Comparison of arch form between ethnic Malays and Malaysian Aborigines in Peninsular Malaysia.

OBJECTIVE: To determine and compare the frequency distribution of various arch shapes in ethnic Malays and Malaysian Aborigines in Peninsular Malaysia and to investigate the morphological differences of arch form between these two ethnic groups. METHODS: We examined 120 ethnic Malay study models (60 maxillary, 60 mandibular) and 129 Malaysian Aboriginal study models (66 maxillary, 63 mandibular). We marked 18 buccal tips and incisor line angles on each model, and digitized them using 2-dimensional coordinate system. Dental arches were classified as square, ovoid, or tapered by printing the scanned images and superimposing Orthoform arch templates on them. RESULTS: The most common maxillary arch shape in both ethnic groups was ovoid, as was the most common mandibular arch shape among ethnic Malay females. The rarest arch shape was square. Chi-square tests, indicated that only the distribution of the mandibular arch shape was significantly different between groups (p = 0.040). However, when compared using independent t-tests, there was no difference in the mean value of arch width between groups. Arch shape distribution was not different between genders of either ethnic group, except for the mandibular arch of ethnic Malays. CONCLUSIONS: Ethnic Malays and Malaysian Aborigines have similar dental arch dimensions and shapes.