A survey on the Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of dentists in Bushehr Province about HIV/AIDS

Dentists are at high risk of blood borne infections since they are often exposed to blood and other body fluids. This study evaluated knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of dentists in Bushehr Province about HIV/AIDS. In a cross-sectional study, in the year 2007, all dentists who worked in Bushehr Province were evaluated by a self- administered questionnaire. The questionnaire had 20 items about contact and treatment and 7 items about the practices for reducing infection rates after contact with HIV/AIDS subjects in dentistry. From a total of 101 dentists who were working in Bushehr port, 77 dentists (76.2%) participated in this study. The mean age was 33.52 (± 6.15) and the mean duration of working activity was 7.41 (± 5.24) years. The overall knowledge about HIV infection, transmission ways and attitude towards infection control were low and had no correlation with demographic data. Most dentists believed that they had professional (62.1%) and moral duty (96.1%) to treat HIV positive patients. While gloves and face masks were worn routinely by the majority of the dentists (83.3%, and 89.7%, respectively), but were not always changed between patients (75.5% and 50.0%, respectively, p<0.002). Hand washing was performed by 59.0% of dentists before treatment and by 66.2% after treatment. The practice of recapping needles was common, 94.9% and only 39.5% of them bended the needles after using. Educational programs are needed to improve dentist's skill and knowledge about HIV characteristics, routes of transmission, proper practice of infection control and Universal Precautions for preventing infections.