Self-Assessment of Knowledge on the Treatment of Children and Adolescents with Special Care Needs: Results of a Survey amongst German Dentists with Key Expertise in Paediatric Dentistry.

BACKGROUND

The treatment of children and adolescents with disabilities (CA-Dis) and psycho-emotional disorders (CA-Psy) places special demands on dentists.

AIM

To explore German dentists' (with key expertise in paediatric dentistry) perception of their competence and comfort levels in dealing with these patients, and implications for access to care.

METHODS

Online questionnaire surveying demographic information and self-assessment of training, knowledge, and comfort in dealing with CA-Dis and CA-Psy among 1725 members of the German Society of Paediatric Dentistry (DGKiZ).

RESULTS

Ninety-two participants (11 male, 81 female) completed the questionnaire: 17.4% ( = 16) treated CA-Dis once or more a day; CA-Psy were rarely treated on a daily basis (7.6%; = 7). In regard to CA-Dis, 62% ( = 57) rated their level of expertise as "good" or "very good"; for CA-Psy this was 40.2% ( = 37). Overall, 76.1% ( = 70), respectively, 88.0% ( = 81) of the respondents felt they had been inadequately prepared to treat CA-Dis or CA-Psy. Although the physical burden of treating CA-Psy was rated as "not at all stressful" or only "slightly stressful" by 45.7% of the participants, 31.5% rated the psychological distress as "very stressful" or "extremely stressful". The better their self-assessed expertise in treating CA-Dis was, the lower their own psychological distress was rated ( = -0.34). Training on this topic seems to have an impact on the perceived burden of treating such patients.

CONCLUSIONS

A core curriculum in special care dentistry needs to be embedded in the German dental curriculum. The results permit the development of health programs for workplace health management in dentistry.