Knowledge and Attitude of General Dentists Regarding HIV and Hepatitis Infections in Rasht

Hepatitis & AIDS are common concern and risky infectious diseases for Health care workers. Dentists are at high risk of transmission of infections via blood، oral fluid or occupational injuries. The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes of general dentists about HIV &Hepatitis infection Rasht، Iran، 2012. this cross-sectional study was carried out by self-designed questionnaire in 2012. The questionnaire was designed & instructed by 3 main parts. first of all demographic information of participants including: gender، age، experience and kind of university، second part with considering dentists knowledge regarding first line in needle stick، contraction rout، screening tests and oral manifestation of these infections، third part was exploring dentist attitude regarding the infected patients. Questionnaire was tested for content validity ratio (CVR) and content validity indices (CVI). The final CVI was 0. 76 and the reliability of questionnaire were 0. 84. Data were analyzed within software SPSS v. 19 and MANN-WEITHNCY TEST، KURSCAL WALIS statistical tests were used. 167 dentists recruited in this study (82. 26% respondent rate). 58% men and 42% were women. The mean age of dentists and experience were 36. 55±8. 8 and 10. 42±7. 97 years respectively. From total 112 (67. 1%) had poor، 50 (29. 9%) had moderate and only 5 people had good knowledge. Total score for knowledge was 5. 8 (up to 13)، however it deserve poor. women had significantly higher knowledge than male (p < 0. 039). There was no correlation between age & experience with knowledge score. 44 dentists (26. 3%) had negative attitude vs 123 (73. 7%) had positive one. Female had significantly higher concern rather than men (p < 0. 015). The present study showed insufficient knowledge for dentists who are at risk of such hazardous. Therefore further education and training program with special courses & booklets highly recommended improving the knowledge and perceiving of general dental practitioners regarding to Hepatitis and AIDS.