Assessment of knowledge and attitude towards prevention among faculty members of dental schools of Jammu city

Objective: To assess the knowledge and attitude towards preventive dentistry among dental faculties in Jammu city. Methods: A descriptive study was carried out on all the dental faculty members (n=64) of the two dental colleges in Jammu city using pretested questionnaire. The questionnaire obtained information regarding their demographic and professional attributes, preventive knowledge regarding dental caries, periodontal disease, oral cancer, malocclusion and counselling and their attitudes towards preventive dentistry. Descriptive statistics included means and standard deviations (SD) of the respondents’ knowledge and attitude scores. Chi-square test served in statistical analysis. Results: Majority of the dental faculties (84.38%) were in the category of highest knowledge scores, while 64.06% of the dental faculties were in the category of highest attitude scores. Statistically significant differences were found for dental faculties knowledge and attitude in relation to their participation in CDE programmes (P<0.05). Dental faculties knowledge showed statistically significant difference in relation to their years of experience in teaching (P<0.05). No other significant differences were found. Conclusions: The prevention orientation of the dental faculties was associated with their credentials such as participation in CDE programmes and years of experience in teaching. Keywords: Knowledge, Attitude, Dental faculties, Preventive dentistry, Prevention