Knowledge, attitude and practice of dentists toward providing care to the geriatric patients

BACKGROUND: Tooth loss, systemic diseases and medications add to the complexity of the oral conditions in geriatric popuation, making this age group a special group in need of specific preventive and curative oral health care. Therefore, the dental teams need to be equipped with specific knowledge and skills to provide the appropriate dental care. This study was iaimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, practice and willingness of general dentists to provide dental care to geriatric patients. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 231 dentists using a questionnaire including demographic characteristics, knowledge, attitude and practice sections. The availability of the facilities for providing services to the older people in the office was also evaluated. Data were fed into SPSS-22 and analysed using descriptive statistics, t-test, Chi-squared, ANOVA and correlation coefficient tests (α = 0.05). RESULTS: 62.8% of the participants were women and their mean age was 34. 4±8. 1 years. The knowledge mean score was 13.3± 2.9 (out of 30). 86. 5% of the participants had moderate knowledge, and 2.6% displayed good knowledge. The mean score related to the attitudes toward geriatric was 55.8 ± 6. 1 (out of 85), which was not significantly different based on gender. The mean score of practice was 21. 4± 4.3. There was a significantly positive correlation between knowledge and attitude. Dentists with a higher knowledge score had moderately a more positive attitude towards the older people (R = 0.33, p_ value < 0.001). However, over 60% preferred to provide care to the young patients. Significant correlation was observed between their practice and attitude (R = 0. 2, P-value = 0.006). Nearly 30% of the dentists found their knowledge and experience insufficient in treating the older people with complex medical problems. 40% believed that the current dental education in dental schools did not provide adequate training in geriatric dental care. CONCLUSION: Although the dentists in this study had average knowledge and capacity, they mostly displayed a positive attitude towards the old. A high percentage of them were unsatisfied with the sufficiency of geriatric dental education in dental schools.