Knowledge, attitude and practice of a group of dental practitioners in treating deep carious primary teeth in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Introduction: preservation of sound primary tooth until eruption of the permanent successors is very important in development of normal occlusion and maintaining the arch form integrity. The study purpose were to determine the knowledge, attitude and practice regarding treating deep carious primary teeth among general dental practitioners and compared them with those of pediatric dentists in Saudi Arabia. Methods: A non-experimental, descriptive, cross sectional design was used. The study participants were general dental practitioners and pediatric dentists who are working as dental practitioners in Saudi Arabia. Inclusion criteria were; Enrolled in dental work in Saudi Arabia, between the ages of 26- 60 years old, had at least one-year work experience, and could read and understand English. The validated self-designed-structured questionnaire in English language was used as an instrument for data collection. Results: One hundred seventy participants were included in the study. Fifty percent were general dentists and 50% were pediatric dentists. The majority of participants were female (116 participants 68.2%). One hundred forty-nine of participants (87.6%) were Saudi. There was highly significant difference between general dental practitioners and pediatric dentists in all three aspect of the survey (knowledge, attitude, and practice). Conclusions: This study concluded that the knowledge, attitudes and practice regarding treating deep carious lesion in primary teeth by general dental practitioners were inadequate. Study findings indicated that general dental practitioners differ in their treatment recommendations from pediatric dentists.