Salerno Claudia, Conti Giulio, Cirio Silvia, Maspero Cinzia, Senna Andrea, Campus Guglielmo, Cagetti Maria Grazia
Department of Restorative, Preventive and Pediatric Dentistry, University of Bern, Freiburgstrasse 7, Bern, 3012, Switzerland.
Department of Biomedical, Surgical and Dental Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
BMC Oral Health. 2025 Jan 20;25(1):106. doi: 10.1186/s12903-024-05181-x.
To investigate the education, knowledge and behaviour of Italian dentists regarding Silver Diamine Fluoride (SDF).
A cross-sectional study was conducted from January to December 2022, through an online survey linked to an online continuing medical education (CME) course sent to Italian dentists. A priori power analysis estimated the necessary sample to be 1480 dentists with an anticipated frequency of 50% and a power of 99.99%. The questionnaire included 46 questions on participants ' demographic characteristics, training received, clinical knowledge of SDF, and attitudes and behaviours regarding its use. Descriptive statistics, bivariate, and mutlivariable regression analyses were performed to determine the association between the variables.
The response rate was 6.1% with 3876 respondents, evenly distributed geographically. Less than 10% of respondents had received training at undergraduate, postgraduate or masters level. A minority of dentists were familiar with the use of SDF for the treatment of dentine hypersensitivity (19.0%) and for the treatment of caries in children (22.2%) and adults (15.7%). The percentage of dentists who reported SDF use at least once was 20.6%. On mutlivariable analysis (χ = 995.9 p-value < 0.01), dentists who used SDF were positively associated with those who cared for patients with special needs, those who received good undergraduate or postgraduate training, and those who knew how to use SDF (p < 0.01). A second mutlivariable analysis (χ = 47.9 p-value < 0.01) revealed that younger respondents were associated with good training and knowledge of the use of SDF received during undergraduate studies, while older respondents were associated with good training received on managing hypersensitivity and caries in adults (p < 0.01).
Overall, Italian dentists ' education, knowledge, and use of SDF were relatively poor. The majority of the sample 's responses were not consistent with scientific evidence. The use of SDF among Italian dentists is still far from being a reality. In Italy, it is necessary to increase training on SDF, primarily through the university, to hopefully increase its use, especially in non-invasive caries treatment.
调查意大利牙医关于氟化亚锡（SDF）的教育情况、知识水平和行为。
于2022年1月至12月进行了一项横断面研究，通过与发送给意大利牙医的在线继续医学教育（CME）课程相关联的在线调查进行。先验功效分析估计所需样本为1480名牙医，预期频率为50%，功效为99.99%。问卷包括46个关于参与者人口统计学特征、接受的培训、SDF的临床知识以及其使用的态度和行为的问题。进行描述性统计、双变量和多变量回归分析以确定变量之间的关联。
回复率为6.1%，有3876名受访者，地理分布均匀。不到10%的受访者在本科、研究生或硕士阶段接受过培训。少数牙医熟悉使用SDF治疗牙本质过敏（19.0%）以及治疗儿童龋齿（22.2%）和成人龋齿（15.7%）。报告至少使用过一次SDF的牙医比例为20.6%。在多变量分析中（χ=995.9，p值<0.01），使用SDF的牙医与照顾有特殊需求患者的牙医、接受过良好本科或研究生培训的牙医以及知道如何使用SDF的牙医呈正相关（p<0.01）。第二项多变量分析（χ=47.9，p值<0.01）显示，年轻受访者与本科学习期间接受的良好SDF使用培训和知识相关，而年长受访者与成人过敏和龋齿管理方面接受的良好培训相关（p<0.01）。
总体而言，意大利牙医对SDF的教育、知识和使用情况相对较差。样本中的大多数回复与科学证据不一致。SDF在意大利牙医中的使用仍远未成为现实。在意大利，有必要主要通过大学增加对SDF的培训，以期增加其使用，特别是在非侵入性龋齿治疗方面。
