Knowledge and attitude of dentists towards preventive dental treatments at greater Hyderabad city

Aim: To know the knowledge and magnitude of the preventive dental services delivered by the dentists towards preventive dental treatment. Methodology: A questionnaire study was conducted among the dentists who are practicing at Greater Hyderabad city to know the attitude of dentists towards preventive dental services. A stratified cluster random sampling method was employed to select a list of clinics from each zone. Sample size was 165 dentists. Results: Approximately 37.8% dentists were using APF gels in their practice. Most of the dentists (68.3%) were applying pit and fissure sealants to not more than 10 children in a month. In multivariate analysis there was a significant association was found between knowledge of dentists and number of out-patients in the clinic. (0R:4.291, CI: Low 1.037- high 17.751, p-value .044). Conclusion: Most of the dentists showed positive attitude towards preventive dental treatments, but still some deficiencies were identified. There is a need to promote knowledge of dentists towards primary preventive services.