Knowledge and attitude of general dentists of Ahwaz about disinfection of dental impressions

Infection control is an important part of dental treatments. One of the infection transmission pathways is through dental impressions. Instructing dentists in infection control and effective educational programs decrease the odds of infection transmission. The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes of dentists about disinfection of dental impressions. In this descriptive study 93 general dentists were randomly selected in Ahvaz in 2010. To collect data, a questionnaire which included demographic data and 15 questions about knowledge and 14 questions about attitude was prepared. The questions on knowledge and attitude were scored and each correct question on knowledge received one positive score. In addition, questions on attitude were scored between 1 and 5. Finally, data were analyzed by t-test and chi-squared test (α = 0. 05). The mean and standard deviation of general knowledge of dentists was 6. 1 ± 0. 2; 66 subjects (٪70. 96) had poor knowledge, with the mean and standard deviation of 4. 65 ± 0. 1; 21 subjects (٪22. 58) had medium level of knowledge, with the mean and standard deviation of 9. 3 ± 0. 2; and only 6 subjects (٪6. 45) had a good knowledge level, with the mean and standard deviation of 12. 3 ± 0. 2. The overall mean and standard deviation of attitude of dentists was 63 ± 8; 86 subjects (٪92. 5) had medium attitude, with the mean and standard deviation of 61 ± 6; and 7 subjects (٪7. 5) had good attitude, with the mean and standard deviation of 85 ± 5. The results of this study showed that the majority of dentists in Ahwaz have good attitude toward disinfection and the related equipment but they have poor knowledge about the use of disinfecting agents, necessitating continuous educational programs in this respect.