Aim: To understand the knowledge and attitude pertaining to hepatitis B in dental health care professionals.
Objective: This study aids to assess the efforts, made by dental health care professionals in colleges to prevent transmission of hepatitis B, to themselves as well as to the patients. The dental graduates are the foundation behind each new budding dentist, and their practices will be the key to continuing optimal education to new graduates. The fact that this study focuses on dental graduates, as opposed to dental students or interns makes it unique from other similar studies on hepatitis B.
Materials and Methods: A cross sectional questionnaire based study was done among dental graduates from two dental colleges in Erode and Tiruchengode respectively. The questionnaire consisted of 20 questions, to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice for prevention among the dental professionals regarding hepatitis B infection.
Results: A total of 124 dental graduates attached to dental the institutions responded to the questionnaire. The results revealed that 87.1% of dental graduates were vaccinated for hepatitis B. Despite the high amount of individuals vaccinated, only 37.1% had got their booster dose. Hence, the measures taken to provide continued protection against hepatitis B must be significantly improved
Conclusion: The study proved that there exists a need to improve the knowledge and practice for prevention regarding hepatitis B infection, to ensure minimal transmission of the virus to themselves and to the patients. Academic institutions can take better measures to serve as an aid, to ensure the vaccination status of their staff and students.
