Ayesha Zafar BDS Samira Adnan BDS, FCPS, MHPE Naseer Ahmed BDS, FCPS Maria Shakoor Abbasi BDS, FCPS Muhammad Adeel Ahmed BDS, FCPS, MFDS RCSEd Rizwan Jouhar BDS, FCPS Saqib Hameed BDS, FCPS
OBJECTIVE: To assess the perception of patients visiting a dental OPD in Karachi regarding cross infection control measures
that should be taken in dental practice.
METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the OPD of Altamash Institute of Dental Medicine from January
to August 2020. A total of 546 patients aged 20-75 years of either gender coming for routine dental check-ups were included
in the study using non-probability convenience sampling. A well-structured and validated questionnaire was used to assess the
knowledge, attitude and practices of patients regarding cross infection measures that should be present in dental practices.
SPSS-25 was used to analyse the data. Descriptive statistics was used to calculate frequency and percentage of qualitative
(gender, socioeconomic and education status, knowledge attitude and practice levels of patients) and quantitative variables
(age groups). Chi-square test was used to detect the relation of patient's knowledge levels with potential factors like the age
groups, gender, socioeconomic and education status. The p-value of (< 0.05) was considered as significant.
RESULTS: Out of the total participants, 79.1% had good knowledge about cross infection control measures in dental practice.
Majority of the patients (84.6%) agreed that dentists should wear gloves during treatment, though majority were of the opinion
that a dentist can treat several patients with the same set of gloves. About 4.9% of the patients said that they ask the dentist to
wear face mask and gloves while treating them, and only 3.3% said that they ask the dentist about sterilization of instruments.
The knowledge level of patients showed variation with their education status but not with respect to socioeconomic status, age
and gender.
CONCLUSION: Although overall the patients visiting dental clinics had good perception and showed positive attitudes towards
cross infection control, the dental health practitioners need to disseminate basic technical information about the infection-control
practices required for safe dental practice to dental patients and the community at large.
KEYWORDS: cross infection, knowledge, dentist, dental patients, perception
HOW TO CITE: Zafar A, Adnan S, Ahmed N, Abbasi MS, Ahmed MA, Jouhar R, Hameed S . Evaluation of cross infection
control in dentistry; A patients’ perception study. J Pak Dent Assoc 2021;30(4):249-254.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.25301/JPDA.304.249
Received: 01 January 2021, Accepted: 15 June 2021
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