KNOWLEDGE of Dentists about hepatitis B & C AND ITS CONTROL MEASURES
ABSTRACT
Aims: To assess the knowledge about Hepatitis B and C and its control in dentists in Lahore.
Settings: Private and public sector dental practitioners of Lahore who were involved in various dental procedures
Methods:
· A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among private and public sector dental practitioners. Amongst the private dental practitioners, those working in Shadara, Badami Bagh, Mughalpura, Baghbanpura, Gulberg, Shadman, Mozang, Ferozpur Road, Model Town, Multan Road, Johar Town and Tohkher Niaz Baig were included. In the public sector major public sector hospitals of Lahore were included.
· In the private sector only dental practitioners were included, whereas in public sector, surgeons, house physicians and postgraduates who were actively involved in various dental procedures were included. Data was collected using a self-administered, close-ended questionnaire regarding their knowledge about hepatitis B and C along with its control measures. Data was entered in the SPSS-13 computer programme and descriptive statistic was used to analyze data. A comparison of variables was done using Z- test.
Results: A total of 240 proformas were distributed; out of which 209 were returned by the practitioners giving a response rate of 87%. The mean age of the respondents was 33+9.8 years. The knowledge of the dentists about Hepatitis B and C infection was measured as score, which ranged between zero (no correct answers) to twenty nine (all answers correct). The average score about knowledge was 21.38+2.92 and was similar among dentist of private and public sector and in different ages. Most of the dentists (98.5%) had knowledge of routes of transmission of hepatitis and knew that it could not be transmitted by mosquito bite, while 29.18% thought that it does not spread through sexual contact. Majority (94.73%) knew that disease could lead to cirrhosis with increased risk of liver cancer. Dentists (25.8%) were not well aware about the various genotypes of hepatitis C and its treatment. Around 5.75% of the respondents were not aware that vaccine is available for hepatitis-B, and 23.9% said that hepatitis-B is not treatable.
About 80% dentists said that they treat hepatitis C positive patients differently from other patients by giving them last appointment of the day. Some showed intolerant attitude towards hepatitis C positive patients while majority (87%) was willing to treat these cases using additional infection control measures because of the fear of acquiring the disease.
The data showed that 90.4% dentists were vaccinated, and had knowledge to use proper hand washing agent (89.9%), wear surgical mask, use eye wear and face shield (80.86%) to protect themselves. The best method for sterilization of instruments as mentioned by 92% dentists was autoclave, while 94.7% said that extraction forceps, hand pieces and saliva ejector should be changed for each patient. According to 74.1% dentists Sharps/objects should be disposed off separately, to prevent accidental injury to handlers. They were all of the opinion that infection control measures must be taken as a preventive measure.
Conclusion: The dentists had good knowledge about hepatitis B & C virus infection and infection control measures to prevent the disease but there were knowledge gaps about sexual transmission of disease and treatment.
Keywords: knowledge, Dentists, public and private sector, hepatitis B & C virus