الفهرس 
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Abstract
Molar Incisor Hypomineralization (MIH) is one of the most common developmental conditions affecting the permanent first molars and usually associated with affected permanent incisors. Due to its high prevalence among children, it can cause substantial pain to children, distress to their parents, difficulty in management to dental practitioners and a large burden on health care systems around the world. Therefore, the early diagnosis and proper management of MIH is of high importance.
The detection and proper diagnosis of MIH are related to the recognition of this condition by the dental practitioners. Therefore, assessment of the knowledge, perception and experience of the dental practitioners all over the world regarding MIH is mandatory.
Hence, the objective of the present study was to assess the knowledge, awareness and perceptions of MIH among the GDPs, PDs, DSs and fifth year dental students in Egypt. Correlations between the knowledge score and the following independent variables; postgraduate degree, specialty and the years of practice were also drawn from the study.
Total of 1000 participants were included in this cross-sectional study. Half of them were fifth year dental students at Faculty of Dentistry, Ain Shams University from two successive academic years and the other half were both general dental practitioners and dental specialists.
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Egyptian dental practitioners who have studied or practiced dentistry outside Egypt were excluded from the study. The participation in the study was voluntary.
Two different forms of questionnaires were used in the study; the first form of the questionnaire was used for assessing the knowledge of the GDPs, PDs and DSs, which was a modified version of the instrument used in a previous study in Australia. The questionnaire consisted of a cover information sheet, clinical photographs of hypomineralized teeth and five sections of questions.
The other form of the questionnaire was the one used for assessing the knowledge of dental students regarding MIH in Egypt. It was a modified version of the instrument used by a similar study in Saudi Arabia. The questionnaire included a cover information sheet, clinical photographs of hypomineralized teeth and two sections of questions.
All data was treated in strict confidence. Data was entered into a spreadsheet (Microsoft Excel) and analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 26. The data obtained from the questionnaire was converted and assigned numerical coding values whenever it was appropriate.
For the dental practitioners’ questionnaire, the results showed that the vast majority of respondents had observed MIH in their practice. However, GDPs have a significantly lower percentage than other groups. The most common defects seen by the respondents were yellow/brown opacities with no significant difference between the three groups.
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The vast majority of PDs and DSs felt confident or very confident when diagnosing MIH, whilst nearly half of the GDPs felt unconfident or very unconfident diagnosing MIH.
The vast majority of the respondents have selected more than one possible factor which supports the common belief that MIH is a multifactorial condition. Most of the GDPs indicated that the insults leading to MIH could have occurred during pregnancy; while the majority of PDs and DSs postulated that the insults leading to MIH could have occurred during pregnancy or after birth in the first year of life.
Differences in the treatment of MIH have also been observed between PDs, DSs, and GDPs where preformed crowns were most commonly used by PDs, while the other groups preferred using composite resin restoration.
The participants who had a postgraduate degree had a significantly higher knowledge score value than GDPs. PDs had a significantly higher knowledge score value than other DSs. Dental practitioners with ≥21 years of practice have significantly higher knowledge scores than those who have fewer years of practice.
For the dental students’ questionnaire, the results showed that a smaller percent of them were familiar with MIH when compared to the dental practitioners. A statistically significant percentage of students had difficulty distinguishing MIH as a developmental defect that differs from other tooth conditions. Most of the students felt slightly confident when diagnosing MIH. Nearly all students suggested including clinical training regarding MIH in their dental course; in particular on the treatment aspects of MIH.