Knowledge and practices about sterilization and disinfection

Knowledge, attitude, and practice of dental health professionals toward dental impression disinfection protocol during the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia- a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Despite the updated guidelines on dental impression disinfection protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic, adherence to such procedures has not been studied among dental health professionals in Saudi Arabia. Understanding DHPs' knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding COVID-19 is crucial in assessing a willingness to adhere to the recommendations provided by health authorities in mitigating the spread of COVID-19 via dental impressions impacting patient safety and infection control measures. Hence, this study aimed to assess dental health professionals' (DHPs) knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) toward dental impression disinfection protocol during the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study using an online survey was conducted from 14 December 2022 to 21 March 2023 among practicing dentists, dental assistants (DA), dental laboratory technicians (DT), and dental hygienists in Saudi Arabia. A validated and reliable questionnaire that consisted of 38 items along with demographic variables was prepared to collect the data. Using Google Forms, a questionnaire link was prepared and shared on the social media platforms of DHPs in Saudi Arabia. A descriptive analysis was conducted to report the percentages and frequencies. The mean knowledge, attitude, and practice scores were analyzed using an Independent t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson's correlation tests.

RESULTS

A total of 718 DHPs voluntarily participated in the survey. Most of the DHPs exhibited average knowledge 392 (54.6%), neutral attitudes 393(54.7%), and adequate 549 (76.5%) practice towards dental impression disinfection protocol. The mean knowledge score differed significantly across nationality (p = 0.013), type of DHPs (p < 0.001), qualification (p = 0.045), and experience (p = 0.028) of the study participants. Significant differences in attitude towards impression disinfection were observed in different age groups (p = 0.002), qualifications (p = 0.015), and experiences (p = 0.024) of the DHPs. Similarly, practice varied across different age groups (p = 0.010), nationality (p = 0.013), type of DHPs (p = 0.019), qualification (p = 0.044), experience (p = 0.041), and COVID-19 Infection (p = 0.006). Moreover, a significant positive correlation between knowledge-attitude (r = 0.258, p < 0.01), knowledge-practice (r = 0.283, p < 0.01), and attitude-practice (r = 0.196, p < 0.01) was observed.

CONCLUSION

DHPs considered in this study demonstrated average knowledge and attitudes toward impression disinfection, requiring improvement through continuous dental education and training. However, they displayed acceptable dental impression disinfection practices during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is highly recommended that continuing education programs should mainly reinforce the knowledge of sodium hypochlorite, iodophor, and phenolics and their concentrations to be used as an impression disinfectant. Additionally, it should focus on techniques of disinfecting elastomeric, hydrocolloid, zinc oxide and eugenol, and impression compound materials to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 based on Saudi ministry of health guidelines.

Respiratory symptoms of exposure to substances in the workplace among Bulgarian dentists

OBJECTIVES

Dentists are exposed to a variety of airborne chemicals that can act as irritants and sensitizers and may give rise to work-related respiratory symptoms. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of respiratory symptoms of exposure to substances in the workplace and associated risk factors in Bulgarian dentists.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was performed among Bulgarian dentists by using a self-report questionnaire. A direct acyclic graph (DAG) was elaborated to illustrate the direct and indirect causal pathways between exposure to irritants and/or allergens from dental environment and work-related respiratory symptoms among dentists. Multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted in order to investigate the relationship between sex, work experience, daily exposure to chemicals from dental environment, history of atopic disorder and work-related respiratory symptoms.

RESULTS

A total of 4675 dentists completed the questionnaire (response rate 48.1%). The prevalence of self-reported work-related respiratory symptoms was 20.7%. The most common repeated causes of respiratory reactions were disinfectants (65.7%) and materials based on acrylic resins (29.7%). Factors associated with work-related respiratory symptoms are personal history of asthma (odds ratio (OR) 2.50, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.71-3.64), work experience >20 years (OR 2.17, 95% CI: 1.74-2.70) and female gender (OR 2.14, 95% CI: 1.81-2.56).

CONCLUSION

Work-related respiratory symptoms are frequent among dentists and indicate a need for efforts to establish effective programmes and techniques of reducing or eliminating direct exposure to airborne chemicals in the dental environment.