Oral health knowledge, attitude, and practices among the health-care professionals: A questionnaire-based survey

Abstract

Objective: The objective of the study is to determine the oral health knowledge, attitude, and practices among the health-care workers (HCWs). Materials and Methods: The present questionnaire-based survey among 473 HCW comprising of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, technicians, and interns was carried out to know the oral health knowledge, attitude, and practices among different HCW. Responses were recorded and data were assessed through descriptive statistics and by applying analysis of variance, Chi-square, and z-tests. Results: Maximum of doctors (98.7%), nurses (80.4%), interns (73.3%), pharmacists (70.8%), and technicians (67.1%) responded correctly that oral health is related to systemic health followed by treating a decayed tooth is equally important as treating other body ailments. Doctors revealed higher mean knowledge scores in comparison with other HCW. A significant difference is noted with regard to frequency of dental visit (P = 0.000), reason behind dental visit (P = 0.001), and barrier for not visiting the dentist (P = 0.013) among males and females. Similarly, a significant difference is noted with regard to frequency of dental visit (P = 0.001), dentist familiarizing about the treatment (P = 0.001), and his concern about the patients (P = 0.001) among between different HCW. Conclusion: From the results of the present study, a variation in oral health knowledge was observed among different HCW. All the participants showed a positive attitude toward professional dental care.

Keywords

• attitude
• health-care workers
• knowledge
• oral health
• practices