An assessment of male dental students’ knowledge and attitude towards radiation protection for pediatric patients in King Khalid University

Abstract

Author(s): M. Zakirulla, Abdullah Hassan Alsharif, Hashem Mohammed Lughbi, Zuhair M Alkahtani, Hussain Almubarak, Mohammad Ali Alshahrani, Al-Hanoof K Al-Qahatani, Atheer A Alghozi, Malak Tareq Laheq, Faris Mohammed Alqahtani, Fahad Thamer Alshahrani

Background: Radiographs are an essential part of most clinical dental examinations and diagnoses. However, it should be clinically justified to obtain maximum benefit and with reduced harmful effects for pediatric patients. The present cross-sectional study was conducted among male dental undergraduate students to assess the knowledge and awareness levels regarding radiation exposure protection for pediatric patients. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out on the sample size of 206 male dental students. A written informed consent was obtained from the participants after explaining them the purpose of the study. Sampling method included in the study is simple random sampling method. Questionnaire was formulated which comprised of two parts: First portion included the questions related to the demographic information of participants, such as age and educational qualification. The other part of the questionnaire comprised 10 questions with ‘yes’ and ‘no’ pattern and multiple-choice question was prepared. The survey data was collected and organized into Microsoft Excel spreadsheets (Microsoft Inc., USA), and was statistically analyzed utilizing the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 20.0 software (IBM Inc., USA). The statistical test used here was the chi-square test and p values less than 0.05 were considered to be statistically significant (p<0.05). Results: A total of 206 persons responded to the questionnaire. 179 (73%) were males and 67 (27%) were females. 82% of study subjects were of 20-25 years, 10% were of 26-30 years, 8% were of 31-35 years. Majority of participants 124 (60%), were agreed that they were aware of pediatric dental radiography. Regarding the radiation protection option available for children, more than half of participants (56%) were not aware of this. 120 (58%) participants believed that performing dental radiological examination in children below 5 years is forbidden. According to 126 (61%) participants agreed that most important organ that must be protected during dental radiography was thyroid and least organ was skin (10%). Majority of participants 187 (91%), said that they would stand behind a protective barrier during exposure of radiation to the patient. Conclusion: Dental students’ knowledge and awareness regarding radiation protection for pediatric patients was not uniformly good. Therefore, more emphasis should be placed on radiation hazards and radiation protection techniques in undergraduate curriculum mainly emphasis on the pediatric patients.

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