Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Devitalizing Agents: A Survey of General Dental Practitioners

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to analyze knowledge, attitude and practice of general dental practitioners regarding the use of devitalizing agents in their respective practice. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 100 practicing general dentists were randomly chosen as per the list of practitioners available to local state association. The questionnaire was designed to cover general information of the participating dentist and concerning different aspects of devitalizing agents. The collected data was subjected to statistical analysis using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) version 17.0 (IBM Statistics, Chicago, Illinois, USA). Descriptive statistics was drawn with respective percentages to have a comparative overview. RESULTS: The response rate was 97%, of which the effective and complete replies received were 77% (75). 56% respondents used paraformaldehyde containing pastes. Majority of general practitioners (61%) did not observe any post-operative complication following the use of devitalising agent. 33% (25) of the respondents were not aware of the complications of devitalizing agents. CONCLUSION: Thus, it can be concluded that general dental practitioners in Pune and Nashik district of Maharashtra, India do use pulp devitalizing agents in spite of possessing knowledge related to the complications.