Survey of knowledge and attitude and practice of general dentists of Tabriz city about prescription of bitewing radiographs before beginning of orthodontic treatments in 2014

Abstract

Orthodontic treatments make patients susceptible to progression of carious lesions and periodontal and other oral problems because of a decrease in patientsE ability to perform proper oral hygiene procedures. Prescribed radiographies before starting orthodontic treatments are not useful in detecting small carious lesions and structure of the marginal periodontium and on the basis of previous studies dentistsE knowledge about radiographies prescription is low. Also practitioners donEt prescribe bitewing radiography before orthodontic treatments. Thus the aim of this study was to assess the level of knowledge, attitude and practice of general dentists of Tabriz about prescription of bitewing radiographs before undertaking orthodontic treatments. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive-analytical study, 120 general dentists in Tabriz were handed in questionnaires. The self-administered questionnaires, consisting of three parts about knowledge, attitude and practice of dentists in prescription of bitewing radiographs before orthodontic treatments, were completed by dentists in private offices. Data were analyzed by SPSS.16 software, using descriptive statistical methods, two independent sample t-test, Pierson correlation test. Results: Mean scores of knowledge, attitude and practice were 55.4714.47%, 74.9211% and 81.1412.44%, respectively. There was no statistically significant correlation between total knowledge, attitude and practice scores and gender (P-value>0.05). As the age of the participants increased, the scores of knowledge, attitude and practice decreased. An increase in duration of dental practice had a positive effect on knowledge but no relation was observed between attitude and practice scores and duration of dental practice. The number of participations in re-education courses had no correlation with any of the knowledge, attitude and practice scores (P-value>0.05). Score of dentistsE practice about prescription of bitewing radiography before orthodontic treatments was 45.8%, which was lower than total practice scores. Conclusion: Knowledge scores of dentists in Tabriz about prescription of bitewing radiographs before orthodontic treatments were not adequate and were lower than attitude and practice scores but an increase in knowledge caused increase in attitude and practice scores. Thus there must be re-education courses to introduce the necessity of prescribing bitewing radiographs before undertaking orthodontic treatments