Comparison of Knowledge and Attitude Between Yazd General Dentists and the Last Year Students of Dentistry in Shahid Sadoughi University about Mercury hygiene (2014)

The lack of correct control of mercury in dental amalgam can cause problems in dental workers health by releasing mercury vapor over the standard limits in working environment. Therefore،the present study was accomplished by the aim of the Comparison of the knowledge and attitude between Yazd general dentists and the last year students of dentistry in Shahid Sadoughi University about mercury hygiene in 2014. In this descriptive-cross sectional study،a questionnaire which it's validity and reliability was confirmed by statistical tests and experts، was distributed among 87 dentists which were selected by simple random sampling and 29 students in last year education. This questionnaire included three parts of: demographic data and the questions related to knowledge and attitude about mercury hygiene in working environment. For analyzing data the SPSS ver. 16،Mann-Whitney test and Kruskal Wallis test were used. The average score of dentists and students was 4. 71±2. 1 and 13. 9±1. 5 but the difference between them was not statistically significant. (P=0. 088) The results showed that dentists have moderate knowledge and attitude and the students of last year had weak knowledge and moderate attitude to mercury hygiene in their working environment.