Introduction: The aim of the study is to assess the knowledge and attitude of forensic odontology among undergraduate and post graduate dental students at Kabul University of Medical Sciences, Afghanistan. Materials and methods: This cross-sectional, institution-based survey study conducted among 300 dental students, included 150 undergraduate and 150 post graduate dental students aged between 21 and 32 years. The questionnaire consisted of 19 questions that assessed the knowledge, attitudes, and practice of participants. All members answered the questions with knowledge. Results and discussion: A self-administered structured questionnaire written in English was distributed to the 300 participants, 150 in each group. The findings show 52.3% of post-graduates were not aware that forensic odontology is a branch of odontology. 88.7 % of the undergraduates answered dental record can identify a deceased person’s age and gender in mass disasters like fire, stampede and accidents, most of post-graduate answering that internet is their source of reading. 53.7 % of post-graduates did not store the patient documents in their clinic. The post-graduate group show a higher awareness about how can they testify as an expert witness in the court to present forensic dental evidence. Conclusions: Our study showed insufficient knowledge, poor attitude and lack of practice in both groups. Adding forensic odontology in dentistry curriculum provide more information in undergraduate student group than in the post-graduate group. However, there is lack of formal training and seminar for post-graduate and undergraduate students.
Keywords:- dental students
- forensic odontology
- knowledge and attitude