Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of the Dental and Medical Practitioners Regarding Dental Implants

Contributors: 1Professor, Department of Periodontics, Faculty of Medical Technology, Derna, Libya; 2Head & Professor, Department of Periodontics, College of Dental Sciences, Bhavnagar, Gujarat, India; 3Senior Lecturer, Department of Prosthodontics, RKDF College & Research Centre, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India; 4Post‐graduate Student, Department of Prosthodontics, Vasantdadapatil Dental College, Sangli, Maharashtra, India; 5Post‐graduate Student, Department of Prosthodontics, School of Dental Sciences, Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences Deemed University, Karad, Maharashtra, India; 6Post‐graduate Student, Department of Prosthodontics, Vasantdadapatil Dental College, Sangli, Maharashtra, India. Correspondence: Dr. Pothula Vijay Sunil Reddy. Department of Periodontics, College of Dental Sciences, Amargadh, Bhavnagar, Gujarat, India. Email: vijaysunilreddy@rediffmail.com How to cite the article: Nagappa R, Reddy VP, Naidu TN, Vathare AS, Jadhav SS, Jadhav GK. Knowledge, attitude and practice of the dental and medical practitioners regarding dental implants. J Int Oral Health 2016;8(1):44‐52. Abstract: Background: Though dental implantology has become an important part of the replacement of the missing or lost teeth, the dental and medical practitioners are still lacking in the knowledge regarding dental implants. These practitioners are the major source of giving education to the community. As results, the awareness in the community about the dental implant as a treatment modality is less. Thus, there is a need to do the assessment of the level of the knowledge, attitude and practice of the dental and medical practitioners regarding dental implants, so that accordingly education sessions can be organized for the practitioners. This ultimately affects the education level regarding dental implants and quality of life of the community people. Materials and Methods: The study was carried out in a group of 565 participants. Is included 323 dental and 242 medical practitioners. The study was done with the help of 25 well‐formed questionnaires which included, 11 questions on knowledge of dental implants, 09 questions regarding attitude toward dental implant procedure, and 05 questions about the practice of dental implants by the dental practitioners. Comparative evaluation was done with the help of Student’s t‐test, using IBM SPSS statistics 20. Results: The results shown that the dental practitioners were superior in knowledge of the dental implants as compared to medical practitioners, and the results were significant statistically (Student’s t‐test, P < 0.001). The comparison between urban and rural practitioners had shown that the urban practitioners were having more knowledge regarding dental implants (Student’s t‐test, P < 0.001). Furthermore, the questionnaires about the attitude toward dental implants shown that there is need to improve the vision of the dental and medical practitioners regarding dental implants procedure. The evaluation of the practice of dental implant procedure was done in male and female dental practitioners and it also shown more positive practice of the dental implant procedures by the male practitioners and the difference was found to be significant statistically (Student’s t‐test, P < 0.001). Conclusion: There is a need to increase the knowledge, improve the attitude, and change the vision of practice of the dental implants. Hence, that, it can be beneficial to the patients.