Awareness and Practices of Dental Care Waste Management Among Dental Practitioners in Chennai City - A Cross Sectional Questionnaire Study

Abstract

Introduction: Dental health care setups are found to generate both infectious and hazardous waste, so it is the time for us to get oriented, sensitized and trained to manage health care wastes scientifically. Aim of the study: To study the awareness and practices of Dental care waste management among Dentists in Chennai City. Objectives: 1. To assess the dentist's awareness about dental care waste management. 2. To know the various methods of bio-medical waste disposal practiced by private dental practitioners in Chennai City. 3. To assess the awareness of dentists regarding colour coding of biomedical wastes. Materials and methods: A cross sectional questionnaire study was conducted among 250 private dental practitioners selected by simple random sampling.A pretested questionnaire consisting of 28 close ended questions divided into two sections was used. Results: Out of 250 participants 167(66.8%) were males and 83(33.2%) were females.About 14.8% of the dentists were not aware of the different categories of bio-medical waste generated in their clinic.About 28% of the dentists were not aware of the bio-medical waste management law in India and the same number (28%) were not aware of the colour coding for different types of biomedical wastes. Conclusion: The present study indicates that the majorities of the dental practitioners were not aware of the different categories of biomedical waste and are not practicing the appropriate method of waste disposal. There is an urgent need for continuing dental education on dental care waste management for the dental practitioners.