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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Eur J Dent 2020; 14(S 01): S63-S69
DOI: 10.1055/s-0040-1718785
Original Article

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Clinical Practices of Dental Professionals during COVID-19 Pandemic in Pakistan

Khalid Almas
1   Department of Preventive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
,
Abdul Samad Khan 
2   Department of Restorative Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
,
Afsheen Tabassum
1   Department of Preventive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
,
Muhammad Ashraf Nazir
1   Department of Preventive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
,
Ashar Afaq
3   Department of Community Dentistry, Dow International Dental College, Karachi, Pakistan
,
Abdul Majeed
4   School of Dental Medicine, University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, USA
› Author Affiliations Funding None.
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Abstract

Objective The aim of this study is to assess knowledge, attitudes, and clinical practices of dental professionals regarding the prevention and control of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Pakistan.

Materials and Methods General dentists and dental specialists working in public and private dental practices, hospitals, and academic institutions participated in this cross-sectional study. A pilot-tested questionnaire was sent to dental professionals through an online link in Pakistan and data collection was completed in April-May 2020. The knowledge score was calculated from 22 variables about the COVID-19.

Results The study included data of 343 dental professionals with 47.2% of males and 52.8% of females. The mean knowledge score was 16.78 ± 2.25, and it significantly differed between general dentists (16.55 ± 2.36) and dental specialists (17.15 ± 2.04) (p = 0.020), and those with up to 10 years of experience (16.58 ± 2.28) and those with more than 10 years of experience (17.05 ± 2.2) (p = 0.026). Only 15.5% of the participants were comfortable in treating patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. A workshop/seminar on the COVID-19 was attended by 23% of the participants. In multivariate analysis, being comfortable in treating patients (odds ratio = 3.31, 95% confidence interval = 1.63, 6.73) was associated with the attendance of workshop/seminar on COVID-19.

Conclusions Dental professionals had adequate knowledge about COVID-19, but a few of them were comfortable in treating patients during the pandemic. A minority of dental professionals attended a workshop/seminar on the COVID-19. Continuous education activities should be provided to dental professionals to enhance their role in the prevention of COVID-19 spread and promotion of oral health.

Keywords

COVID-19 - pandemic - dental professionals - continuing education - awareness


Publication History

Article published online:
07 December 2020

© 2020. European Journal of Dentistry. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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