Health Education and Health Promotion

Abstract Aims: This study assessed the knowledge, attitude, and practice of general dentists in Rasht City, Iran, regarding oral cancer.
Materials & Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 129 randomly selected general dentists practicing in Rasht City, Iran in 2022. A researcher-designed questionnaire with four sections of demographics, knowledge (nine questions), attitude (seven questions), and practice (eight questions) was used for data collection after confirming its validity and reliability. Data were analyzed by the Chi-square test, Fisher’s exact test, and Pearson’s correlation coefficient (alpha=0.05).
Findings: The mean knowledge score of the participants was 5.39±1.96 (out of nine). Most subjects (48.1%) had a moderate knowledge level. Knowledge level had a significant inverse correlation with age, time passed since graduation, and the attending university. The mean attitude score of the participants was 26.4±2.72 (out of 35) and most of them (65.9%) had a positive attitude in this regard. Attitude had no significant correlation with any sociodemographic variable. The mean practice score of the participants was 18.18±2.53 (out of 24), and the majority of them (63.6%) had a moderate practice regarding oral cancer. The practice had a significant correlation only with participation in continuing education courses (p<0.05). Practice and knowledge, and also attitude and knowledge had a significant positive correlation with each other.
Conclusions: The knowledge and practice of the majority of general dentists in Rasht were moderate regarding oral cancer, which is alarming and calls for improvement in the quality of instruction and continuing education courses.

Abstract Aims: The dentists in Iraq usually operate the process of taking dental radiography by themselves. with the more uses of newer ionizing radiation modalities, there is an increased chance that dentists, co-workers, and patients are liable to face the harmful effect and hazards of radiation especially when there was negligence or ignorance. This study aimed to assess dentists' knowledge, attitude, and perception toward dental radiation.
Instrument & Methods: This study was carried out on 322 dentists. The subjects were allocated into 2 groups general dental and dental specialists. Data were collected by a structured questionnaire consisting of 26 items and analyzed using the Chi-square test by SPSS 23 software.
Findings: Out of the 322 dentists who participated in the study, 244 (74.6%) were General Dental Practitioners and 78 (23.9%) were specialist dentists. Specialist dentists showed higher knowledge, attitude, and perception values for radiation hazards protection than general dentists.
Conclusion: From the results obtained in this study, it was clear that the knowledge, attitude, and perception level concerning radiation protection was higher among specialist dentists compared to general dental practitioners.

Abstract Aims: Dental academics should know COVID-19 to save themselves, the students, and the community during a pandemic. We assessed the knowledge of dental academics regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and the factors associated with it.
Instrument & Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted online in April 2020 in the dental school of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Two hundred seventy-four participants were selected by a convenient and snowball sampling. This study was part of a multinational study and used a valid and reliable questionnaire. Multiple linear regression models served for statistical analysis in SPSS 21.
Findings: Of the 274 respondents, 66.4% were female. COVID-19 total knowledge score was 74.30 (of 100), with dental precautions having the highest domain score of 86.28 and warning signs having the lowest (56.93). Multiple regression models controlling for backgrounds revealed moderate and less academic experience associated with higher transmission and protection knowledge. More patient visits and dealing with fewer students (p=0.021) were associated with lower treatment knowledge, having administrative roles was associated with higher protection knowledge (p=0.043), and men had less knowledge of dental precautions (p=0.049).
Conclusion: Dental academics have an overall rather desirable knowledge, while their knowledge on COVID-19 warning signs is insufficient.