Attitude of General Dental Practitioners Towards Child Patients.

ABSTRACT

Aim: to evaluate the willingness of general dental practitioners to provide dental care to children of various age group, the ole dental education plays in shaping future dentists’ attitudes and behaviours concerning treatment and various treatment procedures carried out for child patients in private dental setup. Methods: A 24-item questionnaire survey was developed to determine the variables associated with the attitude of dentists towards treating children. Questions in the survey focused on the dentists’ willingness to treat child patients in general, whether they have specialist in clinic and practice regular follows up of 6 months for children, the barriers they face in treating children, their educational experiences, types of treatments rendered etc., Results and Conclusion: Majority of private practitioners participated in this study treat children and have a positive attitude towards them, even though time consumption and financial constraints was a major barrier. Recommendations could be made to modify undergraduate curricula to encourage dentists to provide treatment to child patients without any reluctance. Efforts should be made to promote the general dentists' willingness to treat children by overcoming the barriers or by referring the children to paediatric dentists as and when necessary.