Knowledge and Attitude towards Prosthodontic Rehabilitation and Utilization of Dental Services by the General Population in Puducherry: A Hospital based Cross Sectional Survey

Abstract

Background: Due to lack of awareness about the importance of tooth replacement and maxillofacial rehabilitation, most patients do not seek treatment immediately after tooth loss.

Objective: The objective of the study was to evaluate the knowledge and attitude towards prosthodontic rehabilitation and utilization of dental services by the general population in Puducherry.

Methodology: A cross-sectional questionnaire based survey was conducted at a private dental college in Pondicherry from surrounding population. The total study samples were 417 (n=417). The questionnaire was randomly distributed to the patients reporting to the institute for teeth replacement. A self designed questionnaire containing total 14 questions, out of which 9 were knowledge based and remaining 5 were attitude-based questions was used for obtaining data. SPSS software was used for analysing the data.

Results: It was found that gender was not associated with patient’s knowledge and attitude (P > 0.05) except preferred mode of prosthesis. It was found that 9.8% of male participants preferred removable prosthesis when compared to 3.4% of female participants. In addition, 79.3% of female participants preferred fixed prosthesis when compared to 72.9% of male participants. This distribution was statistically significant (P = 0.039).

Conclusions: From the analysis, it was understood that the knowledge level might vary among the subjects based on demographic factors like income, education, gender and age. However, their attitude towards dental and prosthetic treatment is positive, especially in cases where surgical intervention is not required because it improves their appearance and function