Abstract
Background: The toxicity of the methyl methacrylate monomer is an ongoing concern in dentistry. Therefore, those who are involved
with this substance need to be cognizant of how to work with it.
Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the level of working knowledge about methyl methacrylate among undergraduate
prosthodontics students at Shahid Sadoughi university in 2014.
Materials and Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, the knowledge level of 54 undergraduate prosthodontics students,
who had passed the last 2 years of their education, was assessed via a 13-question survey related to methyl methacrylate. Each
correct answer was assigned 2 points, and the total sum of right answers was used to measure the knowledge level of each participant.
In order to analyze the study data, SPSS16 was used to apply an ANOVA test, t-test, and Pearson correlation coefficient.
Results: The mean level of individuals’ knowledge in regard to working with methyl methacrylate was 14.74 ± 5.03, with a domain
variance of 0 to 22. A significant relationship was observed between age-related knowledge level mean and education level (P =
0.001), though no relationship was confirmed in regard to knowledge mean and gender (P < 0.286). Moreover, there was a reverse
insignificant relationship between the students’ total average and their knowledge level (P = 0.715).
Conclusions: The study results demonstrated that undergraduate prosthodontics students in their last two years of study had an
average knowledge of working withmethylmethacrylate. Therefore, health education should focusmore on working with dentistry
substances, in order to enhance the knowledge level of the targeted students.