1Assistant Professor, Dept. of Conservative Dentistry & Endodontics, Indira Gandhi Govt. Dental College & Hospital, Jammu
2Assistant Professor, Restorative Dentistry, King Khalid University College of Dentistry, Saudi Arabia
3BDS, AEGD Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia
4General Dentist, Primary Health Care Center, Hai Aldhobat
5Senior Lecturer, Dept. of Oral Medicine & Radiology, Institute of Dental Sciences, Jammu
*Corresponding Author: Email: kaulvibhuti@yahoo.com
Online published on 20 June, 2017.
Hepatitis B is a silent epidemic. The Hepatitis B virus has only human reservoir. Dental professionals are at an increased risk of contracting this highly infectious disease due to the nature of their work.
To assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices of first year, second year, third year, fourth year BDS students, dental interns, practicing dentists and the dental auxiliaries about Hepatitis B infection.
A pre-tested, self-administered cross-sectional survey containing 16 questions about various aspects of Hepatitis B was conducted among 354 subjects.
Descriptive statistics were carried out and statistical tools such as Chi-square test and contingency coefficient (CC) were employed. A P-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. All P-values were two tailed.
The response rate was 100% (n=354). Majority of the dental professionals were aware of the hepatitis B infection and transmission. Their knowledge about the vaccination schedule and post exposure prophylaxis was lower. The dental auxiliaries showed a very know level of knowledge and awareness in all the questions.
Overall good awareness level in the professionals studied but a less than satisfactory level in the auxiliary workers. Amongst the professionals, the first and second year students showed a relatively lower level of awareness.
Awareness, Knowledge, Practices, Hepatitis B virus, HBV, Vaccination, Dental professionals, Dental auxiliaries
