Mimi Syafiqa Ahmad Jafri, Nur Aqilah Mohammad Zainuri, Fazleen Zulzaidi, Naquib Abdul Bari, Hilman Hussaini Hasmili, Michelle Clare Mah and Tan Su Keng
Keywords: patient education, after extraction care, tooth extraction, dental students, dental education
Abstract: In dental practice, one of the most common and essential treatment is tooth extraction. However, there might be uncomfortable and terrifying complications that could occur post-operatively such as prolonged and uncontrolled bleeding, infections, excessive pain etc, resulting in unnecessary stress to the patients. These complications can be minimized with proper after dental extraction education especially in healthy patients. Yet, this simple but vital step is often overlooked. Traditionally, patient education was given verbally to patients after tooth extraction. However, procedure-related stress and anxiety might reduce the efficacy of direct verbal instruction. Hence, the objectives of this improved novel patient education kit: Post Dental Extraction Care (PDEC-kit) 2.0 is to enhance the effectiveness in delivering after dental extraction care and to serve as a simple, yet beneficial tool for dental students and dentists to educate their patients. This novel kit includes a 2-minutes informative educational video, a smartphone application that will be available in both IOS and android format, a multi-lingual brochure with detailed instructions that can be brought home by the patients, a set of Do’s and Don’ts flashcards and a teeth model to practice manual socket compression in the dental clinic for effective bleeding control. These information are also easily accessible anywhere and everywhere by the provided quick response (QR) code, which also includes the details of emergency contact numbers should patients be unable to manage any complications. Additionally, the PDEC-kit has further expanded its applicability to patients with special needs such as blind and deaf-blind by providing a Braille brochure detailing after dental extraction instructions. The audio, visual and tactile guide in this kit is beneficial and suitable for all patients regardless of their socioeconomic background. This kit serves as a platform for dental students to communicate and educate patients in their clinical practice. With the current predicament of the COVID-19 pandemic, this kit enables continuity of patient education while practising social distancing between patients and dental practitioners. An online survey conducted among 50 fresh dental graduates revealed that more than 90% of them agreed that the kit is useful in providing aftercare instruction and easy to use, while all of them believe the kit will boost their confidence in delivering proper instruction.
