The Impact of Community Service on the Attitude and Perception of Dental Interns in King Abdulaziz University

Background: Dental community service has become a vital component of higher education and professional development of dental health providers. Objective: This study sought to investigate the experience and attitude of dental interns following community dental services participation at King Abdulaziz University Faculty of Dentistry (KAUFD). Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study at KAUFD in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia was conducted. Self-administered questionnaire were distributed to 80 dental interns. The questionnaire measured three categories: demographics, experience and attitude towards community service. Uncompleted questionnaires were excluded. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 22. Results: All the participants were dental interns aged between 20-25 years old and already participated in previous community service. Almost 68% of them had less than 2 years of experience in dental public services. The majority of participants considered that lack of manpower, institutional and financial supports are the main challenges observed in community settings. Although, 54% of cohort indicates that job/school requirement is their only motivation. However, 80% of the respondents agreed that the dental community field experience made them aware of the population needs, in addition to knowing their role and responsibility toward their community. Conclusions: This study indicates that health care providers participation in dental public health service will encourage their sense of social responsibility whereas permit them to have valuable experiences with benefits to their society. These experiences will offer the opportunity for the health care providers to be competent with communicating with the public of different cultural background, as well as increasing their sense of civic responsibility.