Abstract
Objective: The aim of the present study was to assess the current knowledge and attitudes toward infant oral health among Dentists in King Saud University. Materials and Methods: Self-administered questionnaire was structured after a thorough literature review then distributed to Pediatric dentists, Pediatric dentistry residents and postgraduates, and general dentists working in King Saud University. Descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, frequencies and percentages) were used to describe the quantitative and categorical variables. Pearson's Chi-square test was used to compare the distribution of responses of knowledge, attitude and practice of infant oral health between general dentists and pediatric dentists. A p-value of x0.05 was used to report the statistical significance of results.
Results: Of the 164 surveys distributed, 101 surveys were returned giving a 69% response rate. About 70% of participants were General dentists and 30% were Pediatric dentists. A 57% of general dentists recommended the first dental visit to be at 1 year old or less, but a less percentage (8.6%)of them that actually treat 0-36 months old children. Whereas, 93.5% of pediatric dentists responded that they recommend children to be seen by the age of 1 year or less, and all of them are treating children less than 3 years old.
Conclusion: These findings indicate that general dentists were knowledgeable, but a lack of knowledge was noticed in a few areas. As well as the lack of willingness to treat younger children can be observed.