Dental Students' Attitudes to the Use of Rubber Dam in United Arab Emirates

Dunia Alhadi; Raghad Hashim; Fatima Alali

Dental Students' Attitudes to the Use of Rubber Dam in United Arab Emirates

Year 2013, Volume: 6 Issue: 1, 20 - 24, 01.03.2013

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess, by means of structured questionnaire, dental students' attitudes to the use of rubber dam. Cross-sectional study, with anonymous structured questionnaires was distributed to final year dental students in Ajman University of Science and Technology in Feb 2012. Information sought included attitudes to the use of rubber dam for a variety of operative and endodontic treatment. The sample consisted of 75 dental students (response rate 83%). Rubber dam was routinely used by 94% of the respondents during root canal treatment on molar teeth of adult patients, but only 73% of respondents had used rubber dam on child patients (P < 0.05). Forty five percent of the respondents (n=34) who placed composite in anterior teeth never used rubber dam for this procedure. However, 44% of the students felt that the application of rubber dam is difficult. Around 97% of the respondents felt that patients do not like rubber dam. The findings revealed that our students showed positive attitude towards the use of rubber dam. However there is a room for improvement to overcome the difficulty in rubber dam application by increasing the preclinical training on phantom heads and hands-on training in clinics particularly for operative procedures and in pediatric patients in order to improve treatment quality and patient safety. Clinical article (J Int Dent Med Res 2013; 6: (1), pp. 20-24)

Keywords

Dental students, endodontic, rubber dam, UAE

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