AIDS and infection control in dental practice: dentists' attitudes, knowledge, and behavior

A random sample of 541 dentists in California was surveyed to determine the dentists' attitudes toward AIDS and their role in relation to AIDS, their knowledge about AIDS, their behaviors in regard to screening for AIDS, and their use of infection-control measures. The survey results showed that dentists believe they have a responsibility to care for patients with AIDS but preferred not to do so; were moderately knowledgeable about AIDS and AIDS-related issues; and were inconsistent in their use of infection-control measures.     

Effect of an educational course at an Iranian dental school on students' knowledge of and attitudes about HIV/AIDS

This study investigated the effects of an educational program designed to improve the knowledge and attitudes of senior dental students in an Iranian dental school about caring for patients with HIV/AIDS. As part of an extramural program in community dentistry, a new educational program about HIV/AIDS was developed at Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 2009. The program consisted of two days' observation at the Consultation Center for Behavioral Diseases and a one-day workshop on infection control. A control group was selected from dental students at Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. Before and after the intervention, students in both the intervention and control groups completed a questionnaire concerning their knowledge of and attitudes about HIV/AIDS. Students in the intervention group also expressed their opinions in a post-test questionnaire. An independent sample t-test was used for statistical analysis. In the control group, the means of students' knowledge and attitude scores did not differ significantly from pre-test to post-test. In the intervention group, however, the means of both knowledge and attitude scores on the post-test were significantly higher than on the pre-test (p=0.001 and p=0.009, respectively). In the intervention group, more than 96 percent of the students reported that they would completely follow infection control principles in future practice. This study concludes that the educational program improved the students' knowledge of and attitudes about HIV/AIDS and will have a positive effect on their future practice.     

武汉市牙医对爱滋病的态度、知识及在感染控制中的行为调查分析

目的 :研究武汉市牙医对AIDS的态度、知识及在感染控制中的行为。方法 :对武汉市 5 0 0名牙医进行问卷调查和分析。结果 :收到有效问卷 46 7份。其中 6 3.2 %的牙医表示愿意治疗AIDS/HIV 病人。 6 0 .4%牙医认为血液是传播HIV的最危险的体液 ,且大多数牙医错误地认为唾液是传播HIV的媒介。 318名牙医每天戴手套操作治疗病人 ,但其中仅 12 8(40 .3% )名牙医在治疗完病人后更换手套。结论 :本研究表明牙医所掌握HIV传播的知识水平较低。同时牙医也没有提供足够的防护措施来保护自己和病人     

Educating Dentists about Fissure Sealants: Effects on Knowledge, Attitudes, and Use

This study evaluated the effects of three modes of education on dentists' knowledge, attitudes, and use of pit and fissure sealants. A randomly selected group of dentists was invited to participate in a sealant education initiative. During a 12-month period, a total of 662 dentists either (1) attended continuing education courses, (2) received written materials and videotapes by mail, or (3) received only written materials by mail. A comparison group (n = 337) received no materials until after the education phase and evaluation had been completed. Pre- and postintervention surveys were used to measure changes in knowledge, attitudes, and sealant use. Response rates to the two surveys were 62 percent and 76 percent, respectively. Preintervention values for knowledge scores, an attitude scale, and sealant use were similar among the four groups. At followup, the three education groups had significantly higher knowledge scores than the comparison group. Attitude values for all but one group were not significantly different, and sealant use by all groups was identical. The numbers of respondents not using sealants declined slightly between surveys in the three education groups while rising slightly in the No-Education Group. Because program outcomes were similar to those of another sealant initiative, it can probably be concluded that continuing education will increase dentists' knowledge about sealants, but have little effect upon their attitudes or their use of the technique. The changes observed in this investigation may be due to the particular capacity for cognitive and affective changes of participants, characteristics of the technology being promoted, and external forces in the professional environment.     

Comparing dentists' attitudes and knowledge concerning AIDS: differences and similarities by locale

A stratified random sample of 1,351 general practitioners in the continental United States was surveyed to determine dentists' attitudes relevant to treating AIDS/HIV+ patients and knowledge regarding the transmission of HIV infection. Survey results were analyzed nationally and by practice locale: high HIV+ prevalence urban areas, other urban areas, rural areas. While there are differences in fear-related HIV attitudes among GPs in the three locales, they are not present in attitude toward willingness to treat and knowledge of AIDS transmission. For dentistry, such findings in large part refute the National Commission on AIDS charges regarding the treatment of AIDS in rural America.     

Dental education and dentists' attitudes and behavior concerning patients with autism

The number of patients diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in the United States has increased significantly. The objectives of this study were to explore general and pediatric dentists' professional attitudes and behavior towards patients with ASD; these dentists' perceptions of their dental education about these issues; and the relationships among their educational experiences, attitudes, and behaviors concerning patients with ASD. Survey data were collected from 162 general dentists in Michigan and 212 pediatric dentists across the United States. The results showed that 89 percent of pediatric dentists and 32 percent of general dentists treat patients with ASD. The respondents disagreed with statements indicating that their predoctoral dental education had prepared them well to treat patients with ASD. However, the better they felt prepared, the more likely they were to provide care for these patients. The frequency with which pediatric dentists said they use appropriate behavior management strategies when treating patients with ASD correlated with the quality of their educational experiences. In conclusion, given the growing number of patients with ASD, it is important to revisit dental education efforts targeted towards preparing future dental care providers for the treatment of patients with ASD and special needs.     

Knowledge, behavior, and attitudes of adolescent university students towards HIV infection and AIDS

The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge, behavior, and attitudes of students entering the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) towards HIV/AIDS, as well as to determine the differences between genders and between groups with different behavior in terms of HIV/AIDS risk behavior, through the conduct of an ad hoc semi-structured questionnaire. This questionnaire was completed anonymously by 12,000 university students going in for compulsory medical check-up at the Health and Social Welfare Office of the UBA. Two thousand cases were selected by simple randomized sampling and statistically analyzed. Results revealed that: (1) 87.2% of the population under study was between 18 and 27 years old; (2) the students' knowledge of the subject was acceptable; (3) the percentage of respondents who reported having sexual intercourse with more than one person decreased as the number of sexual partners in a year increased. Less than 1.5% explicitly stated being homosexual or bisexual; (4) 53.9% of the men and 46.7% of the women claimed they always used condoms; (5) analysis of the perception of their own risk showed that 75% considered they were not at risk; (6) between 95.8% and 98% were in favor of developing educational-preventive activities and 64.2% thought compulsory AIDS screening for job applicants or candidates for educational courses was discrimination. Conclusions: (a) Information available to admission course students is sufficient. However, there are contradictions in their responses about their own behaviors; (b) Most of the respondents are in favor of the corresponding Faculties implementing educational and preventive measures. The students would regard the University's intervention as a way of fulfilling its social role.     

The effect of an HIV/AIDS educational program on the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of dental professionals

The Pacific AIDS Education and Training Center (PAETC) developed and tested over time a curriculum to meet the changed HIV/AIDS-related needs of dental health professionals. The objective of this study was to evaluate the HIV-related knowledge, attitudes/beliefs, and behaviors among the participants of a CE training course based on this curriculum, both before and six weeks after the completion of the course. The project recruited 106 participants who were dental health professionals over a ten and a half year period (1992-2003). The dental participants consisted of 79 percent dentists and 21 percent dental hygienists or dental assistants. The sample was 67 percent male, 33 percent female, 45 percent Caucasian, and 24 percent Asian. An adapted questionnaire was used before and after the training to assess the educational needs of the participants and evaluate the success of the program in meeting those needs. Approximately 81 percent of the participants completed both questionnaires. After the course, the participants significantly changed their knowledge, attitudes/beliefs, and behaviors (65 percent, 86 percent, 55 percent respectively, all at p=.0001). Overall, the educational program was successful in increasing and promoting the HIV/AIDS-related knowledge and attitudes/beliefs of the participants and enhancing their commitment to infection control and HIV risk screening behaviors.     

Evaluation of computer aided learning in developing clinical decision-making skills.

AIM: The aim of this study was to determine whether an educational intervention delivered by a computer aided learning package improved the sensitivity and specificity of dentists' restorative treatment decisions. METHOD: The study was a randomised controlled study using a Solomon three-group design. Ninety-five dentists were randomly allocated to the three study groups. One group of dentists read the radiographs pre and post an educational intervention, a second group read the radiographs once, after the intervention, and a third group read the radiographs twice, but received no intervention. On each occasion the dentists read 24 surfaces on each of 15 radiographs and made 360 decisions on how certain they were about restoring the tooth surface. Comparisons of mean sensitivity, specificity and areas under ROC curves were made within and between the study groups. Kappa values were used to assess changes in the level of agreement between dentists. RESULTS: There were no significant changes in sensitivity, specificity or area under ROC curves caused by the intervention. There was no evidence that the level of agreement between the dentists improved after the intervention. CONCLUSION: A computer aided learning package had no effect on dentists' treatment decision-making behaviour.     

The reaction of dentists to members of groups at risk of AIDS

An experimental field study examined dentists' attitudes and actual behaviors toward men who belong to groups at great risk of AIDS. A total of 102 randomly selected dentists were uninformed subjects who examined an actor in need of dental care and who played three roles as a patient: one who is heterosexual, homosexual, and an intravenous drug user. After each examination, the actor/patient completed a questionnaire about his experience and the dentists were interviewed about homosexuality and AIDS. The dentists were then debriefed and told that they were part of an experiment. Despite negative feelings toward homosexuality, only one dentist refused to treat the actor when he was perceived to be homosexual. One dentist also rejected him when he played the part of an intravenous drug user.     

Effects of school-based dental health education on knowledge, attitudes and behavior of adolescents in San Francisco

A field experiment was done to evaluate the short term effects of a series of classroom preventive dentistry presentations on dental health knowledge, attitudes and reported behavior of adolescents. Eight hundred fifty-four boys and girls, 12-14-yr-old students enrolled in San Francisco middle schools, were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. A written test composed of questions relating to factual dental health knowledge, home care practices, and attitudes to dental health was answered by the experimental group at the beginning and end of the educational intervention and at comparable time intervals by the controls. Results showed a significant increase in knowledge for the experimental group (P less than 0.001), as compared with the control group. Pre-existing attitudes were generally positive for most subjects. Although the educational intervention resulted in no significant differences between the two groups with regard to attitude, there was a significant positive change in attitude within the experimental group (P less than 0.01) from pre- to posttest. In addition, there was a significant increase in the frequency with which the girls in the experimental group reportedly used the toothbrush (P = 0.01) and dental floss (P = 0.01).     

Continuing education in oral cancer prevention for dentists in Spain

Continuing education (CE) can have a large impact on dentists' oral cancer attitudes, knowledge, and behavior. Reading scientific journals is a key component of CE. The objective of this study was to assess preventive and clinical attitudes of the participants in an educational intervention on oral cancer in Spain based on scientific journals. Members of the Spanish Board of Dentists and Stomatologists participated in an online, cross-sectional study, using an anonymous, self-administered questionnaire. There were 791 general dental practitioners (GDPs) invited to participate in the study. The large majority reported that they deliver tobacco-cessation counseling (93.6 percent) as well as advice on alcohol consumption (66.6 percent), but advice on vegetable intake was less frequently provided (42.4 percent). Alcohol intake advice, routine mucosa exploration, and biopsy performance on lesions suspicious of malignancy are preventive attitudes related to training. Compared with those who did not benefit from CE courses or did so only once, the GDPs who took four or more CE courses showed a doubling in the odds of giving alcohol advice to their patients and a tenfold increased odds of performing mucosa check on a routine basis; they were 3.5 times as likely to take biopsies of suspicious lesions. A longer experience as a GDP did not increase the probability of adopting preventive attitudes. In addition to presenting the results of this study, the article also discusses the general usefulness of other preventive measures in oral cancer.     

Attitudes of advanced dental education students toward individuals with AIDS

The number of patients with HIV/AIDS who receive dental care is increasing. This study was undertaken to gain a better understanding of the attitudes of dentists enrolled in postgraduate training toward AIDS and homosexuals. Each respondent received a 500-word patient case vignette and two scales for recording impressions of the person described in the vignette. There were four vignettes, identical except that the portrayed individual's illness was identified as either AIDS or leukemia and sexual preference as either homosexual or heterosexual. Two-way analyses of variance and t tests (p<.05) revealed a bias toward individuals with AIDS and toward homosexuals. Respondents reacted more negatively to both groups on the Social Interaction Scale as seen in total scale scores as well as to individual scale items. In addition, although overall Prejudicial Evaluation Scale scores displayed no evidence of bias, several individual scale items did. It is important to ensure that dentists' attitudes toward patients with AIDS and homosexuals are not a barrier to these patients receiving the best possible care. Therefore, dental education programs at all levels should give consideration to interventions to address provider attitudes and potential biases.     

Knowledge and attitudes about HIV/AIDS of dental students from Kuwait and Sri Lanka

Several studies regarding knowledge and attitudes of dental students towards HIV/AIDS have been reported from various countries. However, to the best of our knowledge, an international comparison between countries with diverse cultural and educational backgrounds has not been reported in the literature. The aim of this study was to compare the knowledge and attitudes towards HIV/AIDS of dental students of Kuwait University (KU), Kuwait and the University of Peradeniya (UP), Sri Lanka, the only dental schools in the respective countries. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among a total of 258 dental students, representing the clinical years of both universities, using a similar structured questionnaire with sixty questions to examine their knowledge of various aspects of HIV/AIDS and thirteen questions to examine their attitudes towards the disease. The mean knowledge and attitude scores were calculated and compared between students from the two universities using t-test with SPSS 17.0. A total of 215 questionnaires were completed and returned, giving a total response rate of 83.3 percent. The KU students were significantly more knowledgeable (p=0.018) regarding HIV/AIDS than the UP students. However, the UP students demonstrated a more highly significant positive attitude (p<0.001) towards the disease than those in KU. This information might help to define strategies to improve the quality of education in these countries.     

上海市残障儿童及家长口腔健康知、信、行调查分析

目的: 调查分析上海市残障儿童口腔健康行为及家长的口腔健康知识、态度,为设计针对残障儿童的口腔公共卫生服务项目和制订有关政策提供依据。方法: 采用分层整群抽样方法,对上海市1 381名残障儿童家长进行相关问卷调查。数据采用SPSS 21.0软件包进行处理。结果: 残障儿童家长口腔健康知识知晓率为67.21%,78.98%的残障儿童家长对口腔健康持积极态度。13.61%的残障儿童经常在睡前吃甜食,只有45.98%的残障儿童每天刷牙2次及以上,42.65%的残障儿童使用含氟牙膏,88.12%的残障儿童从未使用过牙线,49.75%的残障儿童从未看过牙。结论: 上海市残障儿童口腔健康行为有待改善,家长口腔健康知识水平较低,应对家长开展个性化口腔健康教育,并加强郊区口腔健康宣教工作。     

Knowledge and attitudes of Texas dentists concerning AIDS

A total of 1,200 practicing Texas dentists were surveyed concerning AIDS knowledge, attitudes and behaviors. The results were analyzed and an analysis of variance indicated an inverse relationship between city population and avoidance behavior towards AIDS by dentists. Additionally, dentists in practice over 10 years manifested higher avoidance characteristics towards AIDS. Increased knowledge did not correlate with less avoidance behavior. The results of this study indicate that additional methods of educating dentists concerning HIV infection and AIDS, infection control, and the role of health care professionals concerning patients with infectious diseases are needed.     

Changes in children's oral health-related behavior, knowledge and attitudes during a 3.4-yr randomized clinical trial and oral health-promotion program

The aim of our study was to compare the changes in children's oral health-related behavior, knowledge, and attitudes obtained using an oral health-promotion approach, a risk-strategy and promotion approach, and reference area, and to report changes in the behavior of children between the experimental and the control groups of a randomized clinical trial (RCT). The study population consisted of all fifth and sixth graders who started the 2001–2002 school year in Pori, Finland ( n  = 1,691), where the RCT and program of oral health promotion were implemented for 3.4 yr. Children with at least one active caries lesion were randomly assigned to experimental ( n  = 250) and control ( n  = 247) groups. Children in Rauma ( n  = 807) acted as the reference. Changes in children's self-reported behavior, knowledge, and attitudes were compared between groups. The subjects in the oral health-promotion group and in the risk-strategy and promotion group in Pori tended to show greater improvement in most of their oral health-related behaviors than those in the reference group, and children in the RCT experimental group showed greater improvement in most of their oral health-related behaviors than those in the RCT control group. Children can be helped to improve their oral health-related behavior by intervention, including oral hygiene and dietary counseling, or by implementing a multilevel-approach oral health-promotion program.