Comparative analysis of education, awareness, and knowledge of dentists and physical therapists in the treatment of temporomandibular disorders

ABSTRACT

Objective

To compare the education, awareness, and knowledge of Filipino dentists and physical therapists (PTs) in terms of temporomandibular disorders (TMDs).

Methods

A 30-item structured online questionnaire was given to recruited PTs and dentists from January 2019 to December 2019. Welch’s t-test was used to compare the education, awareness, and knowledge of health professionals. Brown-Forsythe and Welch ANOVA with Games-Howell post hoc were used to compare test scores across the knowledge components.

Results

Of the 620 professionals, 46.67% dentists and 6.38% PTs had training in TMD. Professionals with more years of experience and who had previous TMD training were more aware of TMD management. Both dentists and PTs showed the lowest knowledge in TMD pathophysiology.

Discussion

This study showed high awareness but low education and knowledge of Filipino dentists and PTs in TMD management. Improving the educational curriculum and refining the training given by accredited professional organizations is suggested.

KEYWORDS:

• Temporomandibular disorders
• dentists
• physical therapists
• disease awareness
• knowledge assessment

Disclosure of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This study was not funded by any grant or other sources of funding.