Abstract
Violence at work affects the health and safety of dental healthcare workers and studies related to the aggression of patients and their attendants towards dental healthcare staff are scarce. The aim of the present cross sectional study was to assess the frequency and causes of aggressive behavior of patients and their attendants encountered by dental healthcare workers in tertiary care institutes and independent private practices. A self-administered questionnaire consisting of 12 close-ended questions was used to collect data from 286 dentists, postgraduate residents, consultants and assistants. Descriptive statistics were calculated and post-stratification Chi-squared test was used to control effect of gender (P<0.05). Majority (45.1%, n=129) of subjects reported encountering violent behavior at least once a week. Statistically significant difference was observed between frequency of violent behavior experienced by females and males, where females reported a higher frequency of such encounters in routine (P<0.001) The most commonly encountered aggressive behavior was the use of harsh tone or shouting reported by 73.4% of participants. Most significant reason for aggressive behavior was mishandling at the reception (n=143; 50%) followed by unrealistic expectations of patients (n=106; 37.1%) and culture of dominating healthcare professionals (n=99; 34.6%) as well as socially or professionally influential patients who try to influence the doctor (n=99; 34.6%). Dental healthcare workers frequently encounter aggressive behavior from patients and their attendants. Females are targeted significantly more than males (P<0.001).