KNOWLEDGE OF MEDICAL SPECIALISTS ON ORAL MANIFESTATIONS OF SYSTEMIC SCLEROSIS IN A TERTIARY HEALTHCARE CENTRE IN NIGERIA

Oral manifestations of systemic sclerosis

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Due to the heterogeneous manifestation and multiple 
organ affectation associated with systemic sclerosis, a 
multidisciplinary management approach has been advocated. The 
aim of this study was to evaluate the level of knowledge of some 
medical specialists on oral manifestations of systemic sclerosis and 
the need for   interdisciplinary/multidisciplinary collaboration with 
dentists in a tertiary hospital in the management of patients with this 
condition. 
METHODS: This study was conducted at the University of Benin 
Teaching Hospital, Edo State. Data was collected using a self
administered questionnaire with a cover paged informed consent 
form and was distributed among some medical specialists in the 
departments of internal medicine, family medicine, mental health 
and ophthalmology. The information collected was analyzed using 
statistical package for social sciences SPSS for windows version 23.0 
software (SPSS Inc. Chicago, IL, USA). 
RESULTS: A total of 80 questionnaires were distributed among the 
physicians in UBTH, of which 50 were completely answered and 
returned, giving a response rate of 62.5%. Of these 50 respondents, 
27 (54.0%) were male and 23 (46.0%) were female. On the grading 
of the oral manifestation of SSc knowledge, 19(34%) no knowledge, 
12(24%) had poor knowledge, 9(18%) had 10(20%) had good 
knowledge. A total of 24 (48.0%) of the respondents strongly agreed 
while 18(36%) agreed for a multidisciplinary management with a 
dentist. 
CONCLUSION: A good number of medical specialists from on this 
study had insufficient to poor knowledge of oral manifestations of 
systemic sclerosis. This has made collaboration with the dentist 
almost absent. A multidisciplinary collaborative interaction is 
encouraged to prevent worsening oral manifestations associated with 
systemic sclerosis.