Viral Hepatitis in Dentistry – An overlooked contributor to disease burden and occupational hazard in India
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47203/IJCH.2021.v33i02.026Keywords:
Capacity Building, Hepatitis, Human, Health Personnel, Infection Control, Needlestick Injuries, Viral Hepatitis VaccinesAbstract
Introduction: Dental professionals are considered to be at high-risk for contacting blood-borne pathogen transmissions. Thus, making it necessary for dentists to be aware on prevention, transmission and management of viral hepatitis. Objective: One day training programs for upskilling dental fraternity were conducted on 11th November 2019 and 11thFebruary 2020. Program also evaluated the Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP) of dentists regarding infection control practices and oral manifestations of viral hepatitis. Methods: One-day training program viz. “Viral hepatitis in Dentistry” under project Programmed Approach to Knowledge And Sensitization on Hepatitis (PRAKASH) was organized and a cross-sectional study using 20-item-self-reported questionnaire was conducted among participating professionals from six states of India. Identifying information was removed during statistical analysis. Results: Total of 625 dental professionals were trained; of which 470 participated in the KAP study i.e. response rate was calculated to be 75% (470 out of 625). Females represented about 73.2% of the sample(n=470). Sample comprised of experts from all the branches of dentistry. Almost 97% of responders were from private dental institutes or clinics. Mean knowledge score was found to be 4.71 ± 2.04, however when compared with age, knowledge in older professionals > 25 years was higher at 5.00 + 2.10 than participants’ aged<25, 4.57 ± 2.00 (p value = 0.03). Participating professionals seems to be following precautionary practices regarding viral hepatitis in dental clinics in a comparable manner irrespective of their age i.e. mean practice score of 6.81 ± 1.82 in professionals’< 25 years of age and mean practice score 6.81 ± 1.67 in trainees > 25 years. Conclusion: Study raised concerns regarding poor knowledge about infection prevention control and management of viral hepatitis in dental settings. Limited interventions in terms of capacity building programs for dentists on viral hepatitis, highlight the necessity of continued education through such training programs.
Downloads
References
MacLachlan, J. H., & Cowie, B. C.. Hepatitis B virus epidemiology. Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in medicine, 2015;5(5), a021410. https://doi.org/10.1101/cshperspect.a021410
Smolle, E., Zöhrer, E., Bettermann, K., & Haybaeck, J. Viral hepatitis induces hepatocellular cancer: what can we learn from epidemiology comparing iran and worldwide findings?. Hepatitis monthly, 2012;12(10 HCC), e7879. https://doi.org/10.5812/hepatmon.7879
Schillie S, Vellozzi C, Reingold A, Harris A, Haber P, Ward JW, et al. Prevention of Hepatitis B Virus Infection in the United States: Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. MMWR Recomm Rep 2018;67(1):1–31.
Dahiya P., Kamal, R., Sharma, V., & Kaur, S. "Hepatitis" - Prevention and management in dental practice. Journal of education and health promotion, 2015;4, 33. https://doi.org/10.4103/2277-9531.157188
Smith AJ, Cameron SO, Bagg J, Kennedy D. Management of needlestick injuries in general dental practice. Br Dent J 2001;190(12):645–50.
Al-aslami RA, Elshamy FMM, Maamar EM, Shannaq AY, Dallak AE, Alroduni AA. Knowledge and Awareness towards Occupational Hazards and Preventive Measures among Students and Dentists in Jazan Dental College, Saudi Arabia. Open Access Maced J Med Sci 2018;6(9):1722–6.
Pandharbale AA, Gadgil RM, Bhoosreddy AR, Ahire BS, Kunte VR, Shinde MR. An epidemiological study to assess the awareness of hepatitis B infection in the dental students, college staff, practitioners, and auxiliary staff in city of Maharashtra. J Indian Assoc Public Health Dent 2015;13:179-82
Khosravanifard B, Rakhshan V, Najafi-Salehi L, Sherafat S. Tehran dentists’ knowledge and attitudes towards hepatitis B and their willingness to treat simulated hepatitis B positive patients. East Mediterr Health J Rev Sante Mediterr Orient Al-Majallah Al-Sihhiyah Li-Sharq Al-Mutawassit 2014;20(8):498–507.
Al-Shamiri H-M, AlShalawi F-E, AlJumah T-M, AlHarthi M-M, AlAli E-M, AlHarthi H-M. Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Hepatitis B Virus Infection among Dental Students and Interns in Saudi Arabia. J Clin Exp Dent 2018;10(1):e54–60.
Alavian SM, Mahboobi N, Mahboobi N, Savadrudbari MM, Azar PS, Daneshvar S. Iranian dental students’ knowledge of hepatitis B virus infection and its control practices. J Dent Educ 2011;75(12):1627–34.
Shitoot A, Motwani M, Chamele D, Shitoot A, Chamele J, Ghosh A. Hepatitis B awareness and attitudes among dental professionals in Central India. J. Indian Acad. Oral Med. Radiol.2016;28(3):270–3.
Kasetty S, Mohania A, Dwivedi D, Tijare M, Kallianpur S, Gupta S. A Cross-Sectional Study on the Knowledge of Hepatitis B Infection among Dental Professionals. J Virol Microbiol 2013;1–5.
Resende, V. L., Abreu, M. H., Paiva, S. M., Teixeira, R., & Pordeus, I. A. Concerns regarding hepatitis B vaccination and post-vaccination test among Brazilian dentists. Virology journal, 2010;7, 154. https://doi.org/10.1186/1743-422X-7-154
Song, K. B., Choi, K. S., Lang, W. P., & Jacobson, J. J. Hepatitis B prevalence and infection control among dental health care workers in a community in South Korea. Journal of public health dentistry, 1999;59(1), 39–43. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1752-7325.1999.tb03233.x
Khosravanifard B, Rakhshan V, Sherafat S, Najafi-Salehi L. Risk factors influencing dentists' hepatitis B-related knowledge and attitudes and their willingness to treat hepatitis B positive patients. Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal = La Revue de Sante de la Mediterranee Orientale = Al-majallah Al-sihhiyah Li-sharq Al-mutawassit. 2015 Feb;21(1):54-61. DOI: 10.26719/2015.21.1.54. PMID: 25907193.
Goel V, Kumar D, Lingaiah R, Singh S. Occurrence of Needlestick and Injuries among Health-care Workers of a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital in North India. J Lab Physicians 2017;9(1):20–5.
Rostamzadeh, M., Afkhamzadeh, A., Afrooz, S., Mohamadi, K., & Rasouli, M. A. Dentists' knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding Hepatitis B and C and HIV/AIDS in Sanandaj, Iran. BMC oral health, 2018;18(1), 220. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12903-018-0685-1
Knowledge, Attitude, and Behavior of Hepatitis B Virus Infection Among Chinese Dental Interns. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4451273/
Hang Pham, T. T., Le, T. X., Nguyen, D. T., Luu, C. M., Truong, B. D., Tran, P. D., Toy, M., Bozkurt, S., & So, S. Knowledge, attitudes and medical practice regarding hepatitis B prevention and management among healthcare workers in Northern Vietnam. PloS one, 2019;14(10), e0223733. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0223733
Karp JA, Brockington D. Social Desirability and Response Validity: A Comparative Analysis of Overreporting Voter Turnout in Five Countries. J Polit 2005;67(3):825–40.
Grimm P. Social Desirability Bias [Internet]. In: Wiley International Encyclopedia of Marketing. American Cancer Society; 2010. Available from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781444316568.wiem02057
Al-Hazmi AH. Knowledge, attitudes and practice of dentists concerning the occupational risks of hepatitis B virus in Al Jouf Province, Saudi Arabia. Niger J Clin Pract 2015;18(2):276–81.
Homoud A-HA. Knowledge, attitudes and practice of primary healthcare physicians concerning the occupational risks of hepatitis B virus in Al Jouf Province, Saudi Arabia. J Infect Public Health 2014;7(4):257–70.
Malhotra V, Kaura S, Sharma H. Knowledge, attitude and practices about hepatitis B and Infection Control Measures among dental students in Patiala. Journal of Dental and Allied Sciences. 2017;6(2):65-69
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Indian Journal of Community Health
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
