Knowledge regarding Zika virus infection among dental practitioners of tricity area (Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali), India.

BACKGROUND: Zika virus (ZIKV), a vector-borne virus affecting a large number of people, has today become a major public health concern in the developed and developing countries worldwide. AIM: The purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge of ZIKV among dental practitioners residing in Tricity area (Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali), India. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A total of 412 private dental practitioners were randomly sampled of whom 254 (61.6%) responded to participate in this cross-sectional survey. A self-structured, closed-ended questionnaire was administered to each participant to record demographic and professional characteristics followed by their knowledge regarding ZIKV. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS Version 20 (IBM Corp, Armonk, NY). The results were expressed in percentages. Multivariable linear regression analysis was carried out to assess the association of participant's demographics and professional characteristics with knowledge. RESULTS: The sample consisted of 152 (59.9%) male and 102 (40.1%) female practitioners. Majority of the practitioners belonged to the age group of 25-34 years (66.1%). High knowledge was reported by only 38.2% of the practitioners. A statistically significant difference was seen when mean knowledge scores were compared with the qualification of the participants (P = 0.04), with postgraduates having more knowledge than graduates regarding ZIKV. Most of the knowledge of the practitioners came from television (37.8%) while journals only represented 4.7% of the total information gained. CONCLUSION: ZIKV infection, a new public health emergency, needs to be addressed urgently. All health care professionals should have adequate knowledge of the virus and be conversant with necessary precautionary measures to be taken making it imperative that dental practitioners strive to continually update their knowledge from time to time.

Perception of dental practitioners regarding the use of antioxidants in oral health.

BACKGROUND: Free radicals play a key role in the development of several pathological conditions. Therefore, antioxidants (AOs) are the first line of defense against free radical damage and are critical for maintaining optimum health and well-being. OBJECTIVES: To assess the perception of dental practitioners regarding use of antioxidants in oral health. METHOD: A cross-sectional questionnaire study was conducted among 296 dental practitioners in Tricity (Chandigarh, Mohali, Panchkula, India). A self-structured close-ended questionnaire was used to assess the perception of dentists regarding the use of antioxidants in their patients. It consisted of 12 questions with dichotomous response and five point likert scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data, followed by the Chi-square test to check significant differences between the responses. Correlation between responses were analysed through the Spearman's rank correlation. Statistical analysis was done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20 (Illinois, Chicago, USA). RESULTS: A statistically significant difference was observed between genders, with females 181 (61%) having more knowledge than males 115 (39%) regarding the use of antioxidants in their clinical practice. It has been found that dental professionals in academics prescribes more antioxidants to their patients than the private practitioners. Postgraduates 76 (77.6%) had a higher level of knowledge than graduates 86 (43%). CONCLUSIONS: Knowledge about antioxidants should be highlighted in the health sciences curriculum. It is recommended to expand the use of antioxidants in oral health to bring down the burden of chronic diseases like periodontitis and catastrophic diseases like precancerous lesions and oral cancer. KEY WORDS: antioxidants, free radicals, mouth neoplasms, oral health.