Knowledge of Dentistry Students on LocalAnesthetic Systemic Toxicity and IntravenousLipid Rescue Therapy: A Cross-SectionalQuestionnaire-Based Study

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the level of knowledge of dentistry students on local anesthetic systemic toxicity (LAST), which will provide important information that will help in scheduling the educational content of the future syllabus before graduation, in order to prepare the students for possible challenges in the future.Methods: This study included 234 dentistry students who were in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th years of education, at 2018–2019 educational year of Gaziantep University, Faculty of Dentistry. It was conducted in a cross-sectional questionnaire-based manner. The revised questionnaire form included questions regarding the frequency of encountered LAST cases,signs of LAST they had observed, and treatments for LAST that they had used, particularly lipid treatment.Results: The questionnaire was sent to 234 dentistry students who were in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th degree in the Gaziantep University Faculty of Dentistry and 215 of them responded to the study (91,88%). The majority of the participants (93%, n = 200) declared that they had received training about LAs. Among the participants, 38,60% (n = 83) of them preferred only one LA agent, whereas the remaining participants preferred multiple agents. In addition, most of the participants 79,5% (n = 171) declared that they had not observed LAST, while only 15 of the students stated that they have encountered LAST (7%) and had used an alternative therapy rather than the intravenous lipid rescue therapy. None of the students personally administered the lipid rescue therapy.Conclusion: The results of this current study demonstrate the evident need for additional educational effort to create awareness regarding LA use and the effective management of LAST among dentistry students.

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