Awareness, Knowledge, and Attitude of Dental Students toward Infection Control in Prosthodontic Clinic of a Dental School in India

Abstract

Background: Infection control practices are crucial and important elements in clinical dentistry as there is an increase in the prevalence of infectious diseases among dental patients. This necessitates the application of recommended procedures for infection control in dental schools and clinics. Objectives: The aim is to evaluate the awareness, knowledge, and attitude of the undergraduate dental students toward infection control measures in the prosthodontic clinic and to assess their satisfaction toward applying these measures during prosthodontic treatment. Materials and Methods: A questionnaire‑based study was conducted among 180 third, fourth and fifth year dental students (119 females and 61 males) in November 2015 in a private dental school of Rani Durgawati University, Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh), India. It included 25 close‑ended questions related to vaccination status and previous sharp injuries, awareness, knowledge, and attitude toward infection control in the prosthodontic clinic, previous education about infection control, and subjects’ satisfaction with their knowledge and attitude. The questionnaire was distributed among 3rd, 4th, and 5th year students and informed consent were obtained before commencing the questionnaire. Results: A total of 180 participants responded to the questionnaire. Their perception toward infection control practices in the prosthodontic clinic varied from 14.4% to 100%, where former were regularly disinfecting dental cast before sending it to the laboratory and later ones were regularly using gloves while attending the patient. Most of the subjects responded “good” or “fair” to the questions related to the evaluation of their knowledge and policy implementation of infection control in prosthodontic clinic (P < 0.0001). Around 47.8% were almost satisfied, and 28.9% were fairly satisfied with their knowledge and performance. Conclusions: The study findings showed inadequate attitude and awareness of subjects toward infection control in prosthodontic practice. Their self‑assessment and satisfaction reflect their performance toward infection control policy.

Keywords: Awareness, dental students, infection control, prosthodontic