European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

Background: Ever since the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the recent spread of SARS-CoV-2 a global public health concern, efforts at every level are being done to contain the spread of the disease. Owing to its route of transmission, dental professionals are at a very high risk of getting infected and resulting in nosocomial infection. Hence, the dentists should have apt knowledge about the COVID-19 disease so that they can be sedulous enough in not only preventing the spread of the disease but also helping in early identification of the suspected patient for timely and optimum management.
Materials and methods: A cross-sectional online questionnaire based survey was done among 1925 private dental practitioners to assess their knowledge, attitude and infection control practices (KAP) regarding COVID-19 flare-up. A descriptive analysis was carried out and chi-square test was done to compare the KAP with respect to different participant characteristics.
Results: With a response rate of 64.15%, the overall knowledge of the participants was sufficient (89.5%). However, the negative attitude regarding COVID-19 outbreak was reported in about 74.08% of responders. Majority of the dentists were aware of extended safety protocols owing to COVID-19 crisis but most of them were hesitant to follow it in a fully fledged manner. The female dentists, graduate dental practitioners with less clinical experience and dentists practicing in rural areas, in particular, lacked the confidence and perseverance to endure with the current impasse.
Conclusion: It is highly recommended that the competent authorities in India should come up with some visible policies and provide support to the dental practitioners, especially to a certain demographic group amid COVID crisis so that the dentists keep themselves up-to-date about this evolving disease and provide safe and effective dental care while containing the spread of the disease.