Inclusion of a rubber dam in health insurance: a comparative study of the opinions of foreign and Russian students

Aim. To study the opinion on the need to include cofferdam in health insurance among dental students with differentcultural backgrounds (students-citizens of the Russian Federation and foreign students).
Material and Methods. A total of 147 students were surveyed, 56 students were citizens of Russia, 91 students werecitizens of other countries. Among the Russian students, 20 (35.7%) were male and 36 (64.3%) were female, the averageage was 21.23±1.77 (19.00–28.00) years. Among the foreign students, there were 39 (42.9%) males and 52 (57.1%)females, the average age was 23.18±2.79 (18.00–35.00) years. Participants filled out an anonymous questionnaire inRussian or English, depending on the participant’s language.
Results. It turned out that 80.2% of international students and 17.9% of Russian students would like to include the useof a cofferdam in their health insurance (p < 0.001). A total of 59.3% of international students and 12.5% of Russianstudents are willing to pay extra for health insurance to include cofferdams (p < 0.001). Compared with internationalstudents, more Russian students believe that cofferdam is important for the quality of treatment. International studentsare influenced by having friends/relatives who are dentists and use a cofferdam. When analyzing the responses of Russian students, no reliable influence of the experience of friends/relatives was found, but the influence of universityeducation was found, namely, a demonstration of the imposition of the system and showing a training video about thecofferdam.
Conclusion. The opinions of Russian and international students differ both regarding the inclusion of a cofferdam ininsurance and regarding the importance of this isolation system for the quality of treatment in general. International studentsreport that they would prefer to include cofferdam in their medical insurance more often than Russian students do. MoreRussian students believe that a cofferdam is important for quality treatment, especially for endodontic treatment. Friends/relatives’ experience with cofferdam use influences international students’ opinions about cofferdams, while Russian students’ opinions are more influenced by university education, especially demonstrations of the system application.
Key words: students, health insurance, rubber dam, questionnaire, opinion research, comparative study, work fieldisolation system, opinion factor, experience factor, quality of dental treatment
Conflicts of interest. The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Funding. There was no funding for this study