Background: In Malaysia, training to enter dentalnursing profession is only open to women. Ironically,there are no such gender restrictions on training forany other health related professions in Malaysia.Aim: Therefore this study aims to assess theperceptions of Malaysian Senior Dental Officers(SDOs) towards the employability of male workers inthe dental nursing profession and to compare findingsfrom male and female SDOs. Methods: This crosssectional study was carried out on all SDOs inMinistry of Health, Malaysia, using a self-administeredquestionnaire. Descriptive statistics and a chi squaretest were used to address the study objectives. Results:Of the 112 participants, 78 SDOs returned thequestionnaire, yielding a response rate of 70%. Themajority of SDOs had positive perceptions of theemployment of male dental nurses. It was indicated thatgender is an important indicator for workforcedevelopment, and that the employment of both maleand female dental nurses would enhance productivity.Almost 70% of SDOs perceived that the productivityof oral health service would be enhanced by havingmale and female dental nurses but 84.6% disagreedthat male dental nurses would be more productive thanfemale. Two thirds of SDOs disagreed that male dentalnurses would increase satisfaction among malepatients. About 64% of male SDOs disagreed thatdental nursing profession is associated with femaletraits. There was no significant difference betweenperceptions by male and female SDOs for anystatements. Conclusion: The majority of MalaysianSDOs have positive perceptions towards theemployability of male dental nurses, and perceiveddental nursing as a suitable profession for bothgenders. Training for the dental nursing professionshould therefore be made available for men.

Aim: In response to the introduction of an integrated dentaleducation program at University of Malaya (UM) in 2011,a study was conducted to develop a caries risk assessmentmodel (CRA) for use in non-surgical caries managementfor Year 3 and 4 students of the new integrated program.Methods: The CRA model was based on risk indicatorsused by dental students in the Preventive Dental Clinic(PDC). Patients aged 15 years and above who attended thePDC for the first time in year 2009 and 2010 were used asstudy sample. Four hundred and fourteen patient nameswere identified from the student PDC logbook. Of the414, 359 dental records had complete data and includedin the analysis. Data were analysed using SPSS version17.0. Chi-square test was used for group comparison andassociated factors for coronal caries were analysed usingMultiple Logistic Regression (MLR). Results: The finalmodel showed that adults, brushing teeth once daily,and not having dental prosthesis/appliance were 3.31(CI=1.64-6.69), 2.53 (CI=1.19-5.40), and 2.25 (CI=1.25-4.10) more likely to develop coronal caries, respectively,than adolescents, brushing teeth at least twice a day, andhaving dental prosthesis/appliance. Conclusions: Theresults indicate that age group, toothbrushing frequencyand dental prosthesis status are significant indicators forcoronal caries among patients. Outcomes of the studycontributed towards bridging the gap between cariologyand preventive modules in the new integrated dentalprogram.