The knowledge of sleep medicine among clinical dental students at Case Western Reserve University.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to evaluate the knowledge of sleep medicine among dental students to assess if more focus needs to be put on this topic as part of the students' education process. STUDY DESIGN: A cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate knowledge of sleep medicine in 70 third- (D3) and fourth-year (D4) dental students at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Participants completed an electronic Assessment of Sleep Knowledge in Education (ASKME) questionnaire. RESULTS: The mean score of the ASKME questionnaire was 14.8 ± 4.8. There was a highly statistically significant correlation between gender and mean number of correct answers, but no correlation between the number of correct answers and the current year of dental school. Overall, 67.1% of participants had low knowledge on the topic of sleep medicine. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that dental students have a low level of knowledge about sleep medicine and sleep disorders. Dental faculties should incorporate courses related to sleep medicine into the dental school curriculum.