Tabriz general dental practitioner's knowledge and attitude evaluation on space maintainer

Space maintainers are appliances used to preserve the space and prevent ectopic movement of adjacent and opposing teeth when premature loss of deciduous teeth occurs. This study aimed at evaluation of general dental practitioners’ knowledge and attitudes regarding the space maintainers in Tabriz.

This descriptive cross-sectional study involved 151 subjects, selected randomly from 450 general dentist practicing in Tabriz city/province, located in the North-West of Iran. A self-administered questionnaire was provided to subjects and included questions to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes as well as their case selection policy. Data were analyzed using Chi-square and ANOVA tests.

103(70%) of dentists were male. The mean age of subjects was 33.32 years. The mean score on knowledge was 5.32 out of 10 and the mean score on attitude was 25.3 out of 40. About 76.5% (n=115) of participating dentists admitted child patients, younger than 12 years old. These dentists had higher scores in both sections than others. This difference wasnt significant. Increasing scores in the years after graduation was followed by decreasing scores which was statistically significant (P<0.05).

The general dental practitioners under investigation in this study had a good attitude towards the use of space maintainers. Their knowledge in this regard, however, could be improved by means of attending continuing dental education programs, workshops, brochures and pamphlets.