Students' satisfaction with a dental summer programme and importance of influencing factors for choosing dentistry as their career.

AIM: To study the students' satisfaction with the week-long summer programme and the importance of common influencing factors (IFs) for choosing dentistry as their career. METHODS: Anonymous questionnaire was given to all 214 participants in July of 2011 and 2012. Demographic information including gender, age and education level was collected. The students were asked about their satisfaction with the programme with separate ratings for learning experiences, including hands-on workshops (HOW); clinic observations (CO); problem-based learning tutorials (PBL); and lectures (L). They also rated the relative importance of the ten common IFs. The Friedman test was used to study the order of their preferences of the programme's activities. The Chi-square test was used to study the influence of their demographic factors on the importance of the IFs. RESULTS: A total of 208 students returned their questionnaires. The majority were below the age of 18 (81%), and 44% were studying in an international school. Most of the students (96%) were satisfied with the programme overall. They liked the HOWs and COs more than the PBL tutorials and Ls. 'Altruism' and 'medical/health care career' were the two most important IFs overall. 'Altruism' and 'past experience with dentist' were considered more important by those aged 18 or above. 'Past experience with dentist' and 'working with hands' were considered more important by the international school students. CONCLUSIONS: Most participants were satisfied with the summer programme. They preferred practical, skill-based activities to knowledge-based activities. The importance of some IFs was associated with age and education system.

Oral health and dental care in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region of People's Republic of China, is a metropolitan city in Asia with a population of over 7 million people. This paper reflects the current oral health and dental care situations in Hong Kong. Water fluoridation was commenced in 1961, with a current level at 0.5 ppm. And there has continuously been lower caries prevalence thereafter. Dental care is mainly provided by private practitioners. The School Dental Care Service, run by the Department of Health, provides dental care to enrolled primary school children through treatments by dental therapists. An Oral Health Education Unit is set up to promote dental health among the public, particularly preschool children. Government dentists serve mainly civil servants and their dependents. Limited emergency dental care is available to the public at designated government clinics for pain relief, most commonly in the form of extractions. There are about 2200 registered dentists and the dentist to population ratio is about 1:3200. Amongst the dental team, dental hygienists are trained in limited numbers. There are only less than 320 dental hygienists registered, working under the supervision of dentists. The Faculty of Dentistry of the University of Hong Kong has been providing 5-year undergraduate training in dentistry since 1981, and this is lengthened to 6 years from 2012 onwards. Specialty training requires at least a further 6 years. There are 8 specialties, which are Community Dentistry, Endodontics, Family Dentistry, Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Oral Rehabilitation, Orthodontics, Pediatric Dentistry, and Periodontics.