Research Article EvaluationofFinal-YearTurkishDentalStudents’Knowledge, Attitude,andSelf-PerceivedCompetencytowards PreventiveDentistry ArzuPınarErdem , 1 KadriyePeker, 2 SinemKuru, 3 andElifSepet 4 1 Istanbul University, Faculty of Dentistry, Department of Pedodontics, Istanbul, Turkey 2 Istanbul University, Faculty of Dentistry, Division of Basic Sciences, Department of Dental Public Health, Istanbul, Turkey 3 Istanbul University, Faculty of Dentistry, Istanbul, Turkey 4 Istanbul Kent University, Faculty of Dentistry, Department of Pedodontics, Cihangir, Sıraselviler Beyo˘ glu, Istanbul, Turkey Correspondence should be addressed to Arzu Pınar Erdem; apinar@istanbul.edu.tr Received 26 June 2019; Revised 28 August 2019; Accepted 9 September 2019; Published 19 November 2019 Academic Editor: Ali I. Abdalla Copyright © 2019 Arzu Pınar Erdem et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Background. Dental education plays an important role in providing students with the opportunity to develop their evidence- based knowledge and clinical skills regarding patient-specific preventive care and caries management strategies. e aims of this study were to examine the knowledge, attitude, and self-perceived competency towards preventive dentistry among final- year dental students and to investigate their preventive practice for high-caries-risk children. Methods. Data were collected from a convenience sample of 126 dental students using a questionnaire. e IBM SPSS Statistics version 21 was used for data analysis. Results. A total of 126 students completed the questionnaire, and 63% of the respondents were female. Significant gender differences were found in the total Professional Preventive Knowledge Scale (PPKS) (p � 0.016) and its subscales of the noncariogenic nutrition (p � 0.015), dental hygiene/clinical examination (p < 0.001), caries-preventive practice (p � 0.02),and the Hiroshima University-Dental Behavioral Inventory (HU-DBI) (p � 0.028). Significant differences were observed in the total PPKS (p � 0.003) and its subscales of the noncariogenic nutrition (p � 0.043) and caries risk management (p � 0.006) in terms of self-perceived need to receive education and training. Caries-preventive practice was correlated with the self-perceived competency (r � 0.279; p � 0.002),theattitudes(r � 0.394; p < 0.001),thetotalPPKS(r � 0.457; p < 0.001)anditsallsubscalesof dental hygiene and clinical examination (r � 0.425; p < 0.001), noncariogenic nutrition (r � 0.410; p < 0.001), and caries risk management (r � 0.184; p � 0.039). e self-perceived competency was positively correlated with the total PPKS (r � 0.192; p � 0.031) and its subscale of noncariogenic nutrition (r � 0.259; p � 0.003). Greater self-perceived competence, more positive attitudes, and good knowledge regarding preventive dentistry were found to be important predictors of the caries-preventive practice of dental students, explaining 31% of the variance (adjusted R 2 � 0.312, p < 0.001). Conclusion. 40% of dental students reported educational and training needs regarding the diagnosis, caries-preventive agents, and risk-based treatment plan. ese results should be taken into account by the stakeholders in developing the national core curriculum for undergraduate Turkish dental education. 1.Introduction e development of a patient-centered and evidence-based caries management plan is crucial to manage dental caries in all age groups [1, 2]. e progression, inhibition, or reversal of dental caries depends on the balance between pathological and protective factors which determine the risk for future disease [1–3]. To manage dental caries both at individual and at population levels, the newly graduated dentists as future oral health professionals should be educated and trained on the preventive dental care and cariology in the dental curriculum [4–6]. e value of prevention and its integration Hindawi BioMed Research International Volume 2019, Article ID 2346061, 11 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/2346061