Knowledge, Attitude and Practice regarding Hepatitis B infection and precaution among dental health care providers in Baghdad city

Hepatitis B is a potentially life-threatening liver infection caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV). It is a worldwide health problem and the most serious type of viral hepatitis.Dental clinic is the environment where HBV are easily transmitted through multiple ways of direct and indirect exposure to contaminated blood,saliva,aerosols,instruments and others. Though, dental health care providers (DHCPs) should be aware about basic knowledge regarding HBV foundations, transmission routes, preventive measures and standard infection control measures.Their knowledge and adherence to those preventive and control measures are crucial for prevention of HBV cross infection in dental clinics.The study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practice (KAP) regarding control and prevention of HBV infections among DHCPs in in Baghdad city, to compare these KAP among different categories of DHCPs (specialist dentists, practitioner dentists, trainee dentists, and oral hygienists) and to identify socio- demographic factors influencing these KAP of DHCPs.
The study design is cross sectional, carried on 546 of DHCPs in eight specialized health care centers for dentistry in Baghdad city chosen in convenient way; all DHCPs in these centers at time of data collection were included using anonymous self-administered questionnaire with questions on KAP regarding HBV.
Five hundred and forty six of DHCPs participated in the study with 100% response rate. Mean age was 31.38 ± 9.9 year; 63% were females and 53.3% were carried.142 (26%) were specialist dentists,89 (16.3%) practitioner dentists, 199 (36.4%) trainee dentists and 116 (21.2%) oral hygienists. The majority (96.2%) showed fair and good level of knowledge (≥50% of knowledge score) regarding HBV infection and prevention in dental practice, some misconceptions were revealed by respondent’s answers. Oral hygienist significantly had lower scores than dentists regarding basic knowledge and preventive measures. Majority had positive attitude towards disease prevention but only one third replied by ready to treat HBV infected patients.There was 91.2% had fair and good level of practice regarding basic preventive measures and standard infection control measures, although some malpractices were reported by some respondents and 55.7% reported accidental injury with needle prick or contaminated instrument during the last year, one third of them were unvaccinated against HBV. Only 64.8% of respondents had received HB vaccine and only 47.6% were fully vaccinated with vaccine series, 10.38% of them were subjected to serological test to evaluate immune response to vaccine. Study curriculum and text books remain the main source of knowledge for 85.2%, while training courses and workshops provide a source for only 4.8%.
The study concluded that DHCPs had fairly good level of knowledge regarding HBV with inadequate vaccination coverage among those DHCPs. They had a positive attitude towards HBV prevention but most of them are unwilling to deal with HBV infected patients in dental clinics.The study suggests that all DHCPs especially oral hygienists to be further educated by well-organized training courses and the vaccination to be mandatory to the dental college and medical institutes students or at time of entry to service with encouragement to perform post-vaccine blood test to assess immune response.