Knowledge, attitude and practices toward post-exposure prophylaxis for human immunodeficiency virus among dental practitioners in Pune, India

Background: As India has third largest number of people affected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), dental practitioners are more likely to encounter such patients for dental management. Aim: The aim was to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) for HIV among dental practitioners in Pune, India. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 218 dental practitioners who attended Maharashtra State Zonal Conference organized by Indian Dental Association, Pimpri Chinchwad Branch in July 2013. Data related to HIV PEP was collected by predesigned, pretested, self-administered questionnaire. Data was analyzed using Microsoft Office Excel 2007 and results were expressed in percentage. Results: Majority of the participants (69.7%) were found to be in the private practice for <10 years. Though <΍ of the dental practitioners (44.9%) had ever treated known HIV patients, majority of them had a positive attitude for treating these patients (83.9%). About 72.8% of them were aware of the concept of HIV PEP. Majority of them knew the best timing for commencement of HIV PEP drug regimen (58.2%), the antiretroviral drugs to be used (67.8%), timing of antibody testing to rule out infection to health care workers (72%) and from where to avail PEP drug regimen (86.6%). Dental practitioners had poor knowledge regarding the duration of PEP drug regimen (28.4%) and the reason for discontinuation of the same (26.1%). 89.9% of dental practitioners thought that the topic was not well covered in Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) curriculum and 46.7% of them had gained knowledge on the subject through seminars or workshops. Conclusion: The results of this survey showed that though dental practitioners had adequate knowledge of HIV PEP, but an elaboration of this topic is required in BDS curriculum.