Knowledge and attitudes of dental patients toward cross infection control measures in dental clinics at Assiut University Hospital

Abstract

The dental clinic is an environment where disease transmission occurs easily. Infections may be transmitted in the dental clinics to dental patients through several routes direct or indirect. The descriptive research design was on (386) dental patients using a systematic random sample technique. The study was conducted at dental out patients' clinics at Assiut University Hospitals.  A structured interview  questionnaire was used to collect data, it consists of two main parts the socio-demographic characteristics and dental patient level of knowledge in additions  to  likert scale  to assess attitude. The main findings of this study were: mean age was 33.2 year.  The great majority (94.9%) of dental patients who had low level of education had poor knowledge. While 4.9% of dental patients who had high level of education had good knowledge regarding cross- infection control measures and there was a statistically significant relation  between educational level and total level of knowledge.  39.4% & 60.6%  of male and female respectively had  positive attitude and there is  a statistically significant relation   between sex, level of education and   occupation and dental patient's   attitude   regarding    infection control measures.  This study recommend health education program  by the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population, aimed at promoting knowledge and attitude of dental patients toward cross infection control measures in dental clinics through mass media.