Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Mask Usage Among Patients in a Tertiary Dental Care Center.

OBJECTIVE

The study aimed to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practice related to mask use among patients visiting a tertiary dental care clinic through a structured self-administered questionnaire.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The cross-sectional study comprised dental outpatients at Government Medical College, Thrissur, Kerala. The questionnaire contained demographics, knowledge, attitudes, and practice questions about COVID-19. Data analysis included Chi-square testing and descriptive statistics.

RESULTS

A 99% response rate was achieved with 495 responses. There were 241 (49%) men and 254 (51%) women. The study had the most respondents aged 21 to 40 years ( = 220; 44.4%), followed by people older than 40 years ( = 204; 41.2%) and younger than 20 years ( = 71; 14.3%). There were statistically significant differences in age, education, and occupation with knowledge and significant differences in attitude and practice by occupation.

CONCLUSION

This study suggests that dental patients are knowledgeable about health issues and disease prevention strategies. Positive attitudes toward infection prevention in dental clinics with higher levels of prevention practices against COVID-19 transmission rates were reported.