Dental Operatory Hygiene Practices among Dentists in Lucknow City: A Cross-sectional Insight of Current Field Practices
Shivani Priyadarshini, Pooja M. Sinha, Abhishek Verma, Arunendra Vikram Singh, Aparna Chaturvedi, Saumya ChandraAbstract
Background:
Hygiene maintenance holds the highest regard in a dental workspace and plays a pivotal role in the overall success of any clinical setup. Dental health professionals, along with patients, are at equal chances of exposure to noxious stimuli. Hence, cross-contamination among patients may adversely affect the outcome as well as the prognosis of a treatment.
Objectives:
The objective was to gather notable data on the perceived notion of workspace hygiene maintenance of dental practitioners and to assess the willingness to attend future workshops practicing in Lucknow city.
Methodology:
This cross-sectional study was conducted among 126 dental practitioners based in Lucknow city. A prevalidated 17-item questionnaire was sent through Google Form link and a self-generated quick response code via WhatsApp to practicing dentists. Descriptive statistics and the logistic regression method were applied to check the significance and correlation between the undertaken variables.
Results:
The data revealed that the majority of respondents (66.7%) had a postgraduation degree in dentistry. Seventy 2% favored hand hygiene practices before and after each patient. Eighty-five participants (67.5%) admitted to inadvertently examining multiple patients with the same pair of gloves. A combined 86.5% believed that visual hygiene representations are pertinent in clinical areas. The logistic regression analysis showed a significant association between the years of experience and willingness to attend future workshops on the same.
Conclusion:
The majority of the dental professionals show compliance with hygiene measures, although the findings highlight variability in adherence to recommended protocols. There is a need to acknowledge the gaps owing to individual preferences in its practice. This will further pave the way for future workshops to enhance dental workspace hygiene.