Volume 24, Issue 103, May - June, 2020

Knowledge, attitude and performance of general dentists regarding pulpectomy in Khuzestan Province in 2017

Razieh Meshki^1♦, Marzieh Araban², Adel Ghodsi³

¹Assistant professor of pediatric dentistry, school of dental medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of medical sciences, Ahvaz, Iran
²Associate professor, Department of Health Education and Promotion, Public Health School, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran
³Dentist in private practice, Ahvaz, Iran

^♦Corresponding author
Assistant professor of pediatric dentistry, school of dental medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of medical sciences, Ahvaz, Iran

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Endodontic treatments are taken into account as one of the challenges in pediatric dentistry. There is also a wide variety of medications and pulpectomy techniques in case of different situations in pediatric dental care; thus, dentists are required to use evidence-based knowledge to implement the most appropriate methods. As well, the success of pulpectomy is not only limited to specific dental factors, but it can depend on dentists’ skills and perspectives towards treatments. Given the referrals by most families to general dentists for such treatments, the purpose of this study was to evaluate knowledge, attitude, and practice in general dentists towards endodontic treatments of primary (deciduous) teeth. Materials and Methods: Using a cross-sectional study with a descriptive design, a total number of 150 general dentists selected randomly from dental clinics and private offices completed a valid questionnaire. The given questionnaire included four parts with items associated with demographic characteristics information, knowledge, attitude, and practice among general dentists towards endodontic treatments of primary (deciduous) teeth. The data were then analyzed via descriptive statistics, Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient, and logistic regression tests using the SPSS Statistics (Version 22). Results: The findings revealed that 28% of the participants aged 25-30 years and 33% of them had <5 years work experience. The mean and the standard deviation of knowledge, attitude, and practice were also equal to 6.28-1.26, 21.45-3.1 and 7.24-1.57; respectively. Moreover, 53.3% of the participants had undesirable knowledge and 57% of them had unfavorable practice; however, 50.7% of these individuals were endowed with desirable attitudes. No significant correlation was also reported between knowledge, attitude, and practice (P>0.05). In addition, knowledge could predict the practice of pulpectomy according to the results of the regression model (P<0.05). Furthermore, the results showed that increased age could lower levels of knowledge (P<0.05). Conclusion: The dentists had undesirable levels of knowledge and practice in this study, but their attitudes were at a favorable level. It was concluded that other beliefs and conditions beyond knowledge and attitude had a determining role in the practice of pulpectomy. For this reason, it was recommended to use behavioral theories and patterns to identify factors affecting this behavior.

Keywords: Endodontic Treatments of Primary (Deciduous) Teeth, General Dentists, Knowledge, Attitude, Practice

Medical Science, 2020, 24(103), 1152-1163

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