ABSTRACT
The aim of this investigation was to conduct a survey among private dental practitioners in Riyadh concerning their attitude towards treatment of children including those with special care needs. The sample was drawn from dentists working in private dental clinics in Riyadh for a questionnaire survey. A 5 point Likert-type scale was used to describe the participants' response to questions concerning adequacy of undergraduate training, preference of behavior modification techniques, barriers preventing dentists from treating children and the most suitable incentive options for dentists in treating children. A total of 204 responses were returned with a response rate of 20.4% which provided valid and usable information. The sample included 96.1% Non-Saudi and 3.9% Saudi dentists, 58.1% male and 41.9% female dentists 64.7% general practitioners, 30.5% specialists and 4.7% consultants. Among the 204 respondents, 85% treated children, 65.7% reported time consumption and financial loss as a major barrier in treating children and 60.8%favored tell-show-do as the preferred method of behavior management technique. Our study suggests that majority of private practitioners have a positive attitude towards treating children but time consumption and financial loss was found to be a major barrier in treating children and those with special health care needs effectively