Knowledge, attitude, and outlook toward dentistry: their affect on sealant use and other related variables.

The dentist's knowledge about sealants, his attitude about the efficacy, safety, and cost effectiveness of sealants, and his general outlook towards dentistry as a profession were examined in a recent nationwide study of sealant use. Thirty-five hundred general dentists and 500 pediatric dentists were surveyed by a mail questionnaire with a response rate of 37.6% for generalists and 61.2% for pediatric dentists. Numerous moderate correlations were found. Both groups' Knowledge and Attitude scale scores were moderately correlated with sealant use as measured by the respondents' estimation of the percentage of their patients, age 18 and under, receiving sealants. Moderate correlations for both dentist groups also surfaced between Attitude and Knowledge as well as Attitude and Outlook but not between Knowledge and Outlook. Attitude in both groups correlated moderately with respondent scales entitled Preventive Orientation, Patient Influence, and Auxiliary Factors. For generalists, knowledge also correlated moderately with Sealant Awareness and Patient Influence while, for pediatric dentists, knowledge correlated moderately with Patient Influence only. While there was no significant difference between generalist and pediatric dentist outlook scale scores, pediatric dentists showed a significantly more positive attitude and greater knowledge about sealants than did generalists. It was suggested, therefore, that improvement of practitioners attitude and knowledge about sealants might influence sealant use.

A national survey of sealant use by pediatric dentists.

A national survey of pediatric dentists was undertaken to determine their level of sealant use and the factors that affected level of use. A twelve-page mailed questionnaire was completed by 329 practitioners. Decision-making factors, attitudes and knowledge about sealants, sealant awareness, characteristics of sealant use, undergraduate dental school experience with sealants, auxiliary factors, impact of insurance, characteristics of dental practice, interaction with colleagues, and characteristics of patient populations were explored as they related to level of sealant use. Variables significantly associated with sealant use included: availability of insurance, ability to delegate sealant procedures, and patient income and acceptance. Frequent users were more knowledgeable about sealant issues and were more likely to be consulted by their peers.

Importance of variables associated with practitioners' estimates of pit and fissure sealant use.

Practitioner acceptance of pit and fissure sealants has been slow. To assess the factors that relate to the dentist's decision to use or not to use sealants, a comprehensive survey of 3,504 general dentists and 591 pediatric dentists was undertaken. Response rate to the mailed questionnaire was 37.6 percent (n = 1,193) for general dentists and 61.2 percent (n = 329) for pediatric dentists. Items were grouped into ten scales believed to portray major variables associated with level of sealant use. Level of use, measured as an estimated percent of child patients receiving sealants, served as the dependent variable. A stepwise multiple regression was used to study the relationship between the scales and estimated level of use. Overall, the preventive orientation, opinion, and patient influence scales contributed the most to the explanation of the estimated level of use. These scales, for both general dentists and pediatric dentists, had the strongest simple correlations with sealant use and they also were the three scales that showed up most consistently as the prime scales in the multiple regression analyses. These results suggested that efforts aimed at encouraging a preventive philosophy and improving patient and practitioner opinion and knowledge about sealants should be undertaken.

Correlates of dental anxiety in a university population.

The purpose of this study was to identify correlates of dental anxiety in university students. Dental anxiety was measured by means of the Corah Dental Anxiety Scale. Information about the students' dental attitudes, perceptions, and past dental experiences was collected by a written questionnaire administered to an approximately 13 percent random sample of all full-time students. The response rate was 27.3 percent (n = 846). The mean dental anxiety score for the entire study group was 8.77; mean scores for men (8.44) and women (9.10) were significantly different. Of the 18 independent variables studied, seven were found to be significantly associated with dental anxiety scores: sex, frequency of childhood visits to the dentist, childhood experience with dentists, frequency of mothers' visits to a dentist, perceived number of types of services required, symptoms as reason for last dental visit, and number of preventive actions taken prior day. As a group, the independent variables explained 22.8 percent of the observed variation in dental anxiety scores. When the amount of variation which was explained by each of the independent variables was considered separately four variables were found to be significant: childhood experience with dentists, gender, attitudes toward dentists, and number of preventive actions taken the prior day. Further studies are required to identify additional antecedents of dental anxiety in university students. These studies should focus on the ability of the antecedents to explain observed variation in anxiety levels.