Awareness of Nanomedicine among Undergraduate Dental Students

Abstract

The term Nanotechnology involves a spectrum of technologies, techniques and processes that can deal with a matter at the nanoscale falling in between 1 nanometre to 100 nanometres in size. The concept of nanotechnology was introduced in 1959 by Richard P Feynman, a Nobel winning physicist. The aim of this research is to assess the knowledge and awareness of nanomedicine and its application in the field of dentistry among dental students. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 100 dental undergraduate internship students. The questionnaire contained 10 open-ended questions eliciting the knowledge and awareness about nanomedicine and its application in dentistry. The questionnaire was distributed via an online survey tool. The responses were collected and tabulated in the excel sheets, following which they were exported to SPSS software for statistical analysis. 52% of the students were aware of the term nanomedicine. 33% and 16% of the students had awareness of the nano modified impression material and nano modified denture teeth respectively. This study concluded that the knowledge and awareness of nanomedicine and its application in the field of dentistry was moderate among dental students.