Knowledge of General Dentists about Digital Radiography in Tabriz in 2013

Abstract

Background and Aim In dental practice, digital radiography is increasingly used as a new imaging system due to the advantages like time savings, radiation dose reduction, and image enhancements; although some concerns exist for the inadequate knowledge about these systems. The present study assessed the knowledge of general dental practitioners practicing at Tabriz City about using digital radiographic systems. Materials and Methods In this descriptive cross-sectional trial, 106 general dentists (33 females; 73 males) were selected from those practicing in Tabriz city and studied by means of a questionnaire. The questions comprised demographic items and knowledge about different aspects of the digital radiography. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were examined before to their distribution. The answers collected with the scale of more, moderate, little and no idea; for them, scores of 3 to 0 were assigned. The data were analyzed by means of descriptive statistics methods, and Pearson coefficient test was used to examine the correlation between knowledge scores and age, and years passed in dental occupation. Gender knowledge differences were examined by Mann-whitney U test. Results The mean scores of knowledge about digital radiography were 27.52 with the standard deviation of 10.65 (range: 6-57) among dentists. Spearman correlation test showed reverse significant correlations between knowledge scores of digital radiography and age (r=-0.49, p<0.0001) and years practicing dental profession (r=-0.51, p<0.0001). Mean knowledge scores of females and males were 30.8 (12.26) and 25.81 (9.41) respectively being significantly higher in females (p<0.04). Conclusion However, more dentists showed moderate knowledge about digital radiography; this level is not adequate due to the necessity of using digital radiographic systems to impart patients with the advantages. Therefore, more educations should be developed for the general dentists in the form of continuous or formal courses in this field.