Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of Dental Patients About Cross-Infection and Infection Control

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the patient’s knowledge, attitude, and practice of cross-infection control in dentistry. Materials & Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at the Faculty of Dentistry, Trakya University. In this study, 250 patients (134 female and 116 male) aged 18 years and older (35.5±13.9) participated and data were collected using a questionnaire containing questions to determine the knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to cross-infection and infection control. Required personal and socio-demographic data were obtained. A chi-square test was conducted for categorical variables. Kruskal Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests were used to compare questionnaire scores (p <0.05). Results: Most of the participants (30.5%) reported that their sources of information on dental infection control were social media. Knowledge scores of females were statistically significantly higher than males (p=0.005) and participants living in the city were significantly higher than those living in the town (p=0.015). Knowledge scores of health-care workers were significantly higher than both other workers and unemployed/students (p=0.001, p=0.004, respectively). Regarding participants’ attitudes and practices, only 29.2% of the participants questioned the dentists about the contagious disease, and only 36% asked about the sterilization method of the dental instruments. Most of the participants perceived that wearing gloves, masks, eyewear, and face shield would protect both patients and dentists. Conclusion: Participants in this study seem to have a satisfactory level of knowledge about cross-infection and infection control methods in the nowadays’ pandemic condition. However, dental health professionals should make additional efforts to educate and encourage dental patients.