Iranian Journal of Medical Education

Introduction: Promoting public health through the facilities of religious sites has become a popular solution for different fields of medicine around the world. However, these programs have been less developed in Iran’s dentistry. The purpose of this study was to introduce a novel method of providing dental care using portable units in a religious site and to evaluate the satisfaction of students and faculty members with the educational outputs of the program.

Methods: In This descriptive study, mobile dental units were first moved to the auditorium of a religious site (Zeinabieh) to provide dental care to the deprived patients of that area. All the senior dental students (N=75) were selected through census method. While examining the patients and providing the comprehensive treatment plan according to patient priority, they provided some necessary dental care during two weeks. After one semester, the program was evaluated through measuring the satisfaction of 30 students and five supervisor professors (selected randomly) by using a researcher-made 10-item questionnaire whose validity and reliability were confirmed. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.

Results: The total mean score was 3.1±0.5. Sixty percent of the students believed that the effects of the program were high or very high on increasing their ability in restorative and preventive clinical treatments and efficient communication with patients. The lowest satisfaction level was related to improved skills in root canal treatment.

Conclusion: Students’ satisfaction with the program was high in improving ability to provide preventive and dental care services and in communicating with patients.