Dental Stem Cell Therapy: Awareness and Perspective among Indian Orthodontists

Abstract

Aim:  To assess the, awareness of stem cells among Orthodontists in India. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional, self-modified, validated questionnaire-based, nationwide survey was conducted among practicing Orthodontists and postgraduate students belonging to various colleges in India. A total of 502 participants completed the questionnaire. Google Form link was generated and circulated. Data were imported in Microsoft Excel (Version 2016) format. The data was analyzed using SPSS Statistics for Windows, version 25.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Ill., USA). Inferential statistics were performed using the Chi-square test. Categorical variables were described using frequency and percentages. Results: The awareness of the participants about stem cells was assessed. Statistically significant differences were obtained in comparing both the groups (p<0.0001) Conclusion: This is a nationwide survey to assess the levels of awareness of the Postgraduate students and the Orthodontists towards dental stem cell therapy. It has been seen that there are a variety of responses across the zones among the groups. Overall comparisons have suggested that there is equitable knowledge among all the participants towards stem cell applications. Comparatively lesser scores have been reported by the postgraduates in the knowledge and awareness domains.