Dentists Knowledge and Attitude about Confidentiality and Privacy of the Patients in Saudi Arabia

<b><i>Background:</i></b> Privacy and confidentiality are critical elements of patient care. Dentists are ethically obliged to protect patient confidentiality and ensure discretion. Confidentiality is significant to patients’ well-being and establishes confidence in relationships between the doctor and patient. The aim of our study was to determine the level of knowledge about patient confidentiality, actuate the proper attitude when breaching patient confidentiality, and highlight the importance of consent forms for each patient’s release of confidential information. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> A cross-sectional study was conducted with 411 dentists in Saudi Arabia, using an anonymous self-administrated questionnaire that consisted of three parts: sociodemographic data, knowledge, and the third part was the attitude. Data were analyzed by descriptive and analytical statistics using SPSS. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Results show a significant relationship between knowledge and age (<i>r</i> = 0.470, <i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.05), qualification (<i>r</i> = 0.453, <i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.06), and experience (<i>r</i> = 0.430, <i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.05), whereas a less significant relationship occurred between gender and knowledge (<i>r</i> = −0.177, <i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.05). There were also significant relationships between qualification and attitudes in terms of commenting on a patient to colleagues (<i>r</i> = −0.138, <i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.05), friends, or general discussion of confidential information in the waiting room (<i>r</i> = −0.210, &#x3c;0.05, <i>r</i> = −0.161, <i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.05); however, these aforementioned correlations were conflicted among the answers of the respondents. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> Dental programs should address issues concerning confidentiality in order to increase sensitivity of healthcare professionals toward respecting confidentiality of each and every patient.