Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Dental Students Regarding Use of Rubber Dam during Clinical Procedures

Abstract

Objectives: Competency based clinical training in most of the dental schools in Saudi Arabia incorporates a clear rubrics for evaluation of clinical procedure where use of rubber dam is one of the criteria to be effectively fulfilled by the students. The present study aims to determine the knowledge, attitude and practice towards the use of rubber dam by dental students and interns of various dental schools in Saudi Arabia. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted among the dental students of various Saudi university through google form during January 2022 to March 2022. A pretested questionnaire in a 5 point Likert scale ranging from strongly agree (score 5) to strongly disagree (score 1) containing three sections (each containing 10 questions) to measure knowledge, attitude and practice towards use of rubber dam was used. The questionnaire for barriers for rubber dam use included 5 items. The Chi-square test and One-way ANOVA followed by Tukey post hoc was used to compare the responses between the male and female students and dental students of difference academic levels. Results: Total of 273 valid responses were received (189 (69.23%) male and 84 (30.77%) female). The overall average Likert score for knowledge about rubber dam among dental students was 3.45 (± 1.2). The overall average Likert score for questionnaire items assessing attitude of dental students about rubber dam was 3.81 (± 0.9). The respective overall average score for male and female dental students for their attitude towards rubber dam was 3.32 (±0.8) and 4.30 (±0.11) with p = 0.04. The overall average Likert score for practice items was 3.73 (±0.8)(Table 4,Fig-2). The respective overall average score for male and female dental students for practice of rubber dam was 3.13 (±1.1) and 4.33 (±0.8) with p = 0.03. For the questionnaire items assessing the barriers for using rubber dam, the average score for unavailability of suitable rubber dam clamp and patient refuse both scored 4.3. Conclusion: The finding suggest that the dental students have adequate knowledge and training for rubber dam use. The attitude and practice towards consistent use of rubber dam should be reinforced through proper motivation. A future research with a larger sample size and patients feedback on rubber dam will be helpful.