Acquaintance of dental implants as a treatment modality in edentulous states among health workers in Aseer Province, KSA.

PURPOSE

To identify the acquaintance of dental implant (DI) as a treatment modality in edentulous states among health workers in the Aseer region and also to assess the level of understanding about DI among them.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A questionnaire set of 18 questions was used for 500 health workers from the concerned area about DI. Questionnaire set basically consists of questions to assess the attitude, perception, and knowledge among them about DI. The data collected and association with the factors were tested for significance using the Chi-square test and P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

RESULTS

The response rate was 89%. More than 75% were aware of DI, but only 50% of the total respondents were knowing about the difference between the DI, fixed prosthesis, and removable prosthesis. Of the latter, 47.4% have suggested implants for patients and about 55% respondents were agreeing to get DI done for themselves. Dental health care workers have more knowledge than the medical health workers, and the difference was found to be statistically significant. Of respondents, >90% were willing to know more about DI.

CONCLUSION

The practice of implant dentistry is growing in the Aseer region. However, general health workers are not fully aware of proper DI information. In addition, all the efforts should be made to include basic implant education in all the branches of health sciences and the CDE program should be conducted regularly to enhance the knowledge, so that correct information can be channelized to the patients.