Answers from dentists, dental hygienists and dental assistants to questions asked by patients concerning preventive dental matters.

142 dentists, 21 dental hygienists and 35 dental assistants were asked to fill in a questionnaire which consisted of 40 questions about preventive dental matters regularly asked by Dutch dental patients. The 40 questions were submitted to experts in the field of preventive dentistry. The experts were in agreement on 26 questions. It was decided to use these questions for analysis. The average percentage of correctly answered questions was: for the dentists 53%, for the dental hygienists 58% and for the dental assistants 37%. The group of 142 dentists was further analyzed. It appears that the knowledge about preventive dental matters increases subsequently with each year of graduation. Analysis of the dentists who graduated from Dutch dental schools in their capacity as private practitioner, as faculty member or in the school dental service, revealed that there was no difference in knowledge between these groups. With some reservations the conclusion can be stated that an obvious necessity exists for post-academic course in preventive dentistry in the groups concerned. Greater uniformity is needed between the views of the experts and the dental professionals who treat patients daily.