Md Shakeel Anjum’s research while affiliated with Sri Sai College of Dental Surgery and other places

Background: ‘Emotional dissonance’ (the discrepancy between the felt and expressed emotions) could occur in dentistry due to the challenge of pacifying patients irrespective of the dentist’s state of mind and could influence their performance. The presence of certain factors could minimize this though. Our aim was to examine the role of ‘optimism’ and ‘relation with colleagues’ in buffering the effect of emotional dissonance on the performance of dentists.Methods: Emotional dissonance’ was evaluated among 390 dentists of Hyderabad using Zapf scale; ‘optimism’ using 3-items adapted from ‘The Life Orientation Test (LOT)’, ‘relation with colleagues’ assessed with a self-constructed 4-item scale and the ‘performance of a dentist’ using 6 items picked from Goodman scale. Regression analysis was done using SPSS 24, to predict the influence of ‘optimism’ and ‘relation with colleagues’ on the ‘performance’ of dentists in dissonance.Results: Emotional dissonance was found to be negatively related to dentists’ performance. ‘Optimism’ (p=0.018) and ‘relation with colleagues’ (p=0.039) significantly predicted their performance when under dissonance, but in the negative direction.Conclusions: The results necessitate the need to identify various resources to handle dissonance owing to its intensity found in the present study.

Dentistry is one among the most challenging and stressful fields. Research evidence that a person’s emotional intelligence (EI) influences their educational and occupational performance is increasing. Hence, our aim was to assess the influence of trait emotional intelligence on the academic performance of dental undergraduates. A cross sectional study was done on 462 students of 2nd, 3rd, 4th years and interns from five dental colleges using simple random sampling. Trait emotional intelligence was measured using the shorter version of Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQUE-SF), and academic performance was assessed using score obtained in the university examination. The mean EI was found to be 101.01. Majority of them agreed that in-spite of finding it difficult to regulate emotions; they could deal effectively with people. Almost 59% of them agreed that they could deal with stress and 66% were able to control their emotions. There was also a significant difference between EI and age (p=0.000). Emotional Intelligence had a significant association with the academic performance of the students.

Introduction: Teeth play various functional and esthetic roles. As any part of the body, even teeth loss gives one the feeling of being handicapped showing a negative impact on emotions. Sometimes, few people think that having 32 teeth and losing a few among them will not make a difference. Aim: To assess and compare the emotional effects due to loss of natural teeth in complete denture wearers and nondenture wearers. Materials and Methods: A hospital-based survey was conducted on complete denture wearers and nondenture wearers who were attending the outpatient department in a dental hospital for 2 months using a pretested, self-administered questionnaire. Results: Among them who were surveyed, 65.75% agreed accepting the tooth loss is difficult, only 30.13% felt that loss of teeth affected their self-confidence (P = 0.094), about 80.82% reported that natural teeth loss affected their eating efficiency, and 57.53% of them found it difficult while speaking to others. There was a significant difference between denture wearers and nondenture wearers when asked whether loss of teeth affected their looks, eating efficiency, and speaking difficulties (P = 0.000). Conclusion: Even though the majority of them found it difficult in accepting tooth loss, it did not affect their self-confidence majorly; however, most of them found functional difficulties with loss of natural teeth.

Background: Environmental tobacco smoke is a known human carcinogen and passive smoking has now emerged as a health threat. Home is the major source of exposure to tobacco smoke among children. Objective: To explore parents' smoking behaviour and their perceptions towards passive smoking and its effects on their children. Method: A cross-sectional, household survey was conducted on 179 smoking parents in an Indian town using a semi-structured questionnaire which gathered information about demographic factors and 21 questions assessing their smoking behaviour and perceptions about passive smoking. Results: Thirty two percent reported that they did not know smoking caused cancer and only 25% strongly believed that if parents smoked, it had a harmful effect on children's health. Conclusion: Low education, unskilled jobs and a past experience of smoking related health problems have an influence on the way passive smoke and its harmful effects are perceived by smoking parents.

Background: Despite widespread knowledge of the health consequences, tobacco use, especially smoking is common globally. Most of the youngsters become smokers annually and one-third of them are believed to die due to tobacco use. Aim: To assess the various reasons for smoking among teenagers of age 14–17 years. Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted on 384 teenagers to know their views regarding the reasons for smoking habit. A specially designed pretested questionnaire was used for the survey. Results: Majority of 76.4% of the study subjects agreed that smoking habit gives psychological pleasure, 77.5% agreed that smoking starts because of friends, and 65.7% felt that smoking starts as an inspiration for outlook and personality. Conclusion: Various psychological factors, personal factors, and social factors are attached with smoking habit.

Introduction: The railroads of India are the fourth most heavily used system in the world. Railways are one of the main modes of transport and millions of people travel by train daily. Aim: To know the opinions of commuters in receiving oral health messages in railways station through various methods and also their knowledge and practice regarding oral hygiene. Materials and Methods: Using convenient sampling method data from the commuters was obtained by a pretested questionnaire through interview method from 14 railway stations of South Central Railway zone. Pearson Chi-square test was used to compare the opinions of commuters based on their gender to receive oral health messages. Results: A total of 596 (97.3%) responded to the survey; a maximum of 297 (49.8%) subjects strongly agreed to the statement that railway platforms should have informative posters on oral health. A maximum of 188 (31.5%) commuters strongly agreed that prerecorded messages on oral health if played before the announcement of arrival and departure of train will be helpful to spread oral health awareness. Majority of 43% commuters (255) preferred to receive oral hygiene instructions printed on back side of the ticket followed by messages on television and through posters. Conclusion: Majority of the commuters preferred to receive oral health information in railways stations. Hence, efforts can be directed in spreading oral health information among public through railways.

Purpose: To assess the levels of dental anxiety among patients anticipating dental treatments in dental clinics/hospitals of Ranga Reddy district. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among a representative sample of 1200 subjects (at least 18 years old) in dental clinics/hospitals which were selected from a list obtained through systematic random sampling. The data were collected using a pre-tested and calibrated questionnaire consisting of the Modified Corah Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) to assess anxiety levels. Results: The majority (52.4%) of subjects showed a low level of anxiety. Females (11.44 ± 4.41) were found to have higher mean MDAS scores than males, and the highest mean MDAS scores were found among 18- to 34-year-olds (11.28 ± 4.67) (P < 0.05). Significant differences were found among subjects anticipating different treatments, with higher MDAS scores for extraction (11.25 ± 5.4), followed by examination, root canal treatment, gum surgery, scaling, restoration and others, e.g. orthodontic treatment, restoration with crowns, bridges and dentures (7.79 ± 3.80). The highest mean MDAS scores were found among subjects who were apprehensive due to 'past difficult experience in dental treatments', followed by 'drill' and 'injection', with the lowest scores among subjects indicating 'other reasons' (7.82 ± 3.84). Conclusion: The present data show that anxiety levels are higher in patients who have to undergo extractions than those who must be fitted with dentures. Thus, dental health care providers should pay more attention to patients' anxiety levels associated with different types of treatment.

Background Studies have demonstrated that dental stu-dents / dentists are among the most vulnerable to blood-borne exposures. Objectives The objective of this study was to assess the awareness and prevalence of accidental blood-borne exposures among undergraduate and postgraduate dental students. Materials and Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 281 students at Sri Sai College of Dental Surgery-Vikarabad, in which a structured pre-tested self-administered questionnaire was given to all clinical dental students and the responses were subjected to statistical analysis. Results The response rate in present study was 87%. The mean age of the subjects was 22.9 years and awareness on blood borne exposures was found to be 88.9%. 76% of the students reported having undergone accidental exposures with 24% of them being Per-cutaneous injuries. In 49% of respondents syringe needle was the most common instrument causing accidental injury. Conclusion Accidental exposures and non-reporting of accidental exposures were prevalent in these students.