Awareness and educational needs regarding ultrasonography in dental education and practice among undergraduate and postgraduate dental students
BMC ORAL HEALTH, cilt.26, ss.1-13, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
- Cilt numarası: 26
- Basım Tarihi: 2026
- Doi Numarası: 10.1186/s12903-026-09541-7
- Dergi Adı: BMC ORAL HEALTH
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Natural Science Collection (ProQuest), Biological Science Database (ProQuest), Biomedical Reference Collection: Corporate Edition (EBSCO), Health Research Premium Collection (ProQuest), Scopus, Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), CINAHL, EMBASE, MEDLINE, Directory of Open Access Journals
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.1-13
- Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
Objectives
This study aims to assess the level of knowledge, clinical awareness, and educational needs regarding ultrasonography (USG) among undergraduate and postgraduate dentistry students.
Materials and methods
This cross-sectional questionnaire-based study included 431 participants, comprising 231 postgraduate residents from 57 universities across Türkiye and 200 undergraduate students from Dokuz Eylul University. The researcher-developed, pilot-tested online questionnaire assessed demographic characteristics, USG education and experience, knowledge level, clinical applications, and educational needs.
Results
While 53.8% of the participants reported having received USG education at the undergraduate level, 75.3% and 78.3% of postgraduate students stated that they had not received theoretical and practical USG training, respectively. Among survey respondents, 14.8% reported routinely integrating USG into their clinical decision-making. Within the postgraduate cohort, a highly significant disparity was observed: residents in Dentomaxillofacial Radiology (DMFR) reported a substantially higher rate of routine integration (69.3%) compared to residents in all other dental specialties combined (1.3%, p < 0.001). The most common clinical applications of USG were salivary gland evaluation (28.8%), assessment of masses/lesions (25.8%), and lymph node examination (23.0%). Participants who had received practical USG training reported higher routine integration of USG into clinical decision-making (p < 0.001) and higher anatomical structure recognition (p < 0.05) than those without practical training. Difficulty in image interpretation was the most frequently reported barrier (63.6%), while most participants preferred combined theoretical and practical USG training (65.2%).
Conclusion
Despite the diagnostic and clinical value of USG in dentistry, there is a lack of practical training at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Incorporating structured theoretical and practical USG education into dental curricula may contribute to improving knowledge, awareness, and the integration of USG into clinical decision-making.