Factors Associated with Use of Dental Sealants among Dental Professionals in Mangalore-A Cross Sectional Study

Introduction: Dental caries is one of the most infectious diseases in the world. Dental sealants have been proved as effective way to prevent caries, hence can play a vital role in preventing caries. Objective: The primary objective of the study is to obtain insight into dental sealant status and factors associated with sealant use among dental professionals in Mangalore, by a questionnaire method. Method: A cross sectional, questionnaire based study was done on both private practitioners and professionals working in various colleges in Mangalore, to assess knowledge, attitude, behaviour, perceived effectiveness, willingness to apply sealants, familiarity with recent guidelines and barriers to the use dental sealants in Mangalore city. Results: A total of 134 respondents took part in study. Half of the respondents (50%) said that they had never applied sealants. A majority (96.3%) of them said that they were willing to apply sealants as a preventive measure. On correlation analysis there was a statistically significant association between knowledge and attitude (p = 0.001, r = 0.296), behaviour (p = 0.001, r = 0.280) and perceived effectiveness (p=0.001, r=272). There was also statistically significant association between attitude and behaviour (p < 0.001, r = 0.433), perceived effectiveness (p < 0.001, r = 0.521) and barriers (p=0.014,r=0.228).Overall 86.6% of the respondents reported that dental sealants are underused with poor attitude of patients towards sealants being the major barrier for their use followed by unawareness of treatment choice in patients. Conclusion: The present study highlights the need to change the dental curriculum regarding dental sealants and has definite policy implications for preventive re orientation of dental education and dental practice for long term oral health benefits to the populace. The results also throw light on a number of barriers to the use dental sealants in a developing nation like India, thus indicates the need for patient education and awareness programs for the population in terms of oral health.