Objective: Systemic diseases may first manifest in the oral cavity, making them highly relevant to dental practice. This study assessed the knowledge of 4th- and 5th-year dental students at Harran and Adıyaman Universities. Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study included 4th- and 5th-year dental students at Harran and Adıyaman Universities. A 15-item, 3-point Likert questionnaire was administered electronically. Of 263 invited students, 231 completed the survey. Analyses were performed using the Mann-Whitney U test (p<0.05). Results: A total of 231 students (response rate: 87.83%) completed the survey, including 134 4th-year (57.75%) and 97 5th-year (42.25%) students. While most students reported that they understood the definition of systemic diseases (79.4% of 5th-year and 75.4% of 4thyear students), difficulties in categorization were still observed. Fifthyear students provided a higher proportion of affirmative (''Yes'') responses overall (85.6%) compared to 4th-year students (66.5%), whereas 4th-year students were more likely to respond ''Not sure'' (27.5% vs. 15.2%). The oral and maxillofacial surgery internship was reported to increase knowledge by 91.8% of 5th-year students and 73.5% of 4th-year students. A statistically significant difference between the groups was observed only in the ''Not sure'' response category (Mann-Whitney U test, p=0.031). Conclusion: When all data is evaluated, students' knowledge about systemic diseases is not sufficient. The students' responses show that the education given in the faculties is not sufficient and needs to be improved, and that students have demands in this regard.
Durmuş et al. (Thu,) studied this question.