Diagnostic Dental Radiation Risk during Pregnancy: Awareness among General Dentists in Tabriz

A Knowledge and Practice Survey Among Dentists in Saudi Arabia Analysing Myths and Misconceptions in Dentistry and Oral Surgery: What Do Dentists Believe?

Introduction To ensure safe and effective practice, dental practitioners must stay up-to-date with all scientific updates involving their profession. In this regard, many outdated myths and misconceptions may be persistently believed and practiced. This study aimed to examine dental misconceptions circulating among dentists in Saudi Arabia. Methods An electronic survey was administered to Saudi Arabian dental practitioners classified and registered with the Saudi Commission of Health Specialties. It collected their demographics, career and experience details, and responses to 16 questions that targeted different myths. Logistic regression was used to analyze factors associated with their knowledge. Results A total of 519 dentists answered the survey, of which 54% were male with a mean age of 32 ± 9 years and a mean practice of 7 ± 8 years. More than half (57%) practiced general dentistry. In most (69%) of the questions, 40% of the respondents answered incorrectly. The proportion of incorrect answers to some questions reached 62%. Years of teaching, years in practice, and doctor rank had no association with the knowledge score. Conversely, the type of practice and specialty had multiple statistically significant associations (p < 0.05). Conclusion This study shows that many myths, despite being debunked for more than 20 years, are still circulating among Saudi Arabian dentists, including many young dentists. Academic institutions must urgently address these concepts and the science that disproves them; dentists must implement up-to-date, evidence-based knowledge in their practice.

Women's awareness regarding the use of dental imaging during pregnancy

Background

There is often anxiety among pregnant women about dental imaging during pregnancy. This may hinder some women from seeking dental treatment during pregnancy and consequently, may negatively affect the oral health of the mother and fetus. This study was conducted to assess women’s awareness regarding the use of dental imaging during pregnancy.

Methods

In this cross-sectional study, the electronic distribution of structured questionnaires was done via social media. The self-administered questionnaires contained questions related to women’s knowledge regarding the radiation protection measures during dental imaging, the safest period for dental imaging, the type of radiographs that can be acquired during pregnancy, and the possibility of radiation-induced malignancy and fetal malformation as a result of dental imaging.

Results

In total, 410 completed questionnaires were received and analyzed. More than half of the participants were 30–49 years of age. The majority of the participants (91%) demonstrated poor knowledge concerning dental imaging. Only 4% reported that pregnant women can have dental imaging during any trimester. The majority believed that panoramic images and cone-beam computed tomography should not be acquired during pregnancy. The majority also believed there is a high risk of congenital malformation due to dental imaging and were unsure about the oncogenic risks.

Conclusions

Our study suggests that there is insufficient knowledge about dental imaging safety during pregnancy. This misconception may have a direct impact on the attitude toward seeking dental care. Therefore, community awareness initiatives aimed at informing our society about radiation exposure, safety, and required protection measures are critical.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12903-021-01726-6.

Knowledge About Chronic Orofacial Pain Among General Dentists of Kermanshah, Iran

Background and Objective:

Diagnosis and treatment of chronic orofacial pain are one of the most challenging issues in dentistry. The purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge of general dentists regarding orofacial pain in Kermanshah, Iran.

Methods:

This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2016 including general dentists of Kermanshah city. A researcher-designed questionnaire was administered to collect demographic data as well as measuring knowledge of the dentists in four sections including etiology, clinical presentations, physical examination, and treatment of chronic orofacial pain. The questionnaire had acceptable validity (content validity > 0.9) and reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient= 0.857 for test re-test; Cronbach’s alpha= 0.72 for internal consistency). The data were analyzed by the SPSS software (ver. 18.0) using Spearman’s correlation coefficient (P < 0.05).

Results:

There were 121 male (72.9%) and 45 female (27.1%) dentists with mean (SD) age of 40.55 (8.03) years and mean (SD) practice history of 13.28 (8.43) years. Mean (SD) knowledge score was 10.54 (2.36) (maximum possible score= 15). 48.2% of dentists had good knowledge in overall. 48.2% about etiology, 45.2% about clinical presentations, 36.1% about physical examination, and 7.8% about treatment had good knowledge. Knowledge had direct and significant relationship with age (r = 0.179; P = 0.022) and practice history (r = 0.18; P = 0.021).

Conclusion:

The results showed that the studied dentists did not have enough knowledge about chronic orofacial pain especially in the treatment field. Therefore, it is recommended to implement educational programs to improve their knowledge.

Attitude and awareness of general dental practitioners toward radiation hazards and safety

AIM AND OBJECTIVE

The aim and objective is to evaluate the level of awareness and attitude about radiation hazards and safety practices among general dental practitioners in Trivandrum District, Kerala, India.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 300 general dental practitioners in Trivandrum District, Kerala, India. Postanswering the questions, a handout regarding radiation safety and related preventive measures was distributed to encourage radiation understanding and protection.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

Statistical analysis were done by assessing the results using Chi-square statistical test, t-test, and other software (Microsoft excel + SPSS 20.0 trail version).

RESULTS

Among 300 general practitioners (247 females and 53 males), 80.3% of the practitioners were found to have a separate section for radiographic examination in their clinics. Intraoral radiographic machines were found to be the most commonly (63.3%) used radiographic equipment while osteoprotegerin was the least (2%). Regarding the practitioner's safety measures, only 11.7% of them were following all the necessary steps while 6.7% clinicians were not using any safety measure in their clinic, and with respect to patient safety, only 9.7% of practitioners were following the protocol.

CONCLUSION

The level of awareness of practitioners regarding radiation hazards and safety was found to be acceptable. However, implementation of their knowledge with respect to patient and personnel safety was found wanting. Insisting that they follow the protocols and take necessary safety measures by means of continuing medical education programs, pamphlets, articles, and workshops is strongly recommended.

Imaging More Imagining less: An Insight into Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Regarding Radiation Risk on Pregnant Women among Dentists of Ghaziabad - A Cross Sectional Study

INTRODUCTION

The safety of diagnostic imaging during pregnancy is an important aspect for all clinicians. Pregnant women often do not receive proper dental care as the dentists are not aware of low diagnostic radiation doses involved in dental radiation.

AIM

To assess awareness of radiation risks on pregnant women among dentists of Ghaziabad city.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A total of 268 practicing dentists in Ghaziabad were selected for a questionnaire based cross-sectional study. Data consisted of 18 questions which assessed the knowledge, attitude and practice of dental professionals regarding radiation risks on pregnant women. The questionnaire was distributed and collected personally by the principal investigator. Data was analyzed by Mann Whitney U test and chi-square test. The level of significance was set at p ≤ 0.05.

RESULTS

The results showed that the dentists who had attended continuing dental education program had increased level of knowledge regarding radiation effects among pregnant women as compared to the dentists who had not attended continuing dental education programs (p<0.05). Among them who had attended continuing dental education programs 93.3% were aware of the safe dose of radiation and 62% were aware of threshold radiation doses of pregnancy termination. On the contrary there was no significant difference in the knowledge, attitude and practice scores regarding radiation risks on pregnant women based on their academic qualification (p≥0.05).

CONCLUSION

The level of knowledge among dentists was found to be satisfactory, this outcome shows that continuing dental education regarding radiation protection principles and its risks on pregnant women is required to ensure maximum safety both for clinician as well as pregnant women.

Coalition of attitude and practice behaviors among dental practitioners regarding pregnant patient's oral health and pregnant patient's perception toward oral health in and around Pondicherry

Background:

This study aims to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, practice behaviors among general dental practitioners and assess the perception toward oral health by pregnant patients in and around Puducherry.

Methodology:

A self-designed and structured questionnaire was used to obtain information from the dental practitioner and the pregnant patients.

Results:

The majority of the dental practitioners had a lack of knowledge, attitude, practice behaviors regarding pregnant patient's oral health and similarly majority of pregnant patient's perception toward oral health was poor.

Conclusions:

Drowning and dilemmatic attitude and practice behavior of dentists to be streamlined to render right care to the pregnant women at the right time. Perplexing perception toward oral health care by pregnant women to be overcome to orient them to understand the impact of oral health on their general systemic health.