Attitude and Practice of General Dental Practitioners and other Dental Specialties towards Pediatric Dentistry in Pakistan

OBJECTIVE: Pediatric patients have high unmet treatment needs in Pakistan. There are only a handful of pediatric dentists in Pakistan. Thus, the dental services to child patients have to be dependent on general dentists and other dental specialists. The aim of this study was to assess the attitude and practice of the dentists towards clinical pediatric dentistry in Pakistan. METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study was conducted among the dentists in Pakistan. RESULTS: A total of 372 dentists participated in the study. These included 122 (32.8%) males and 250 (67.2%) females. The majority of the participants (n = 272, 73.1%) were between the ages of 25 to 35 years. As compared to other dentists, a significantly greater number of general dentists (p < 0.008) had received any training in the behavioral management of children. Operative dentists reported practicing more of the various procedures in child patients (pit and fissure sealants, stainless steel crowns, pulpectomies, fluoride varnishes, pulpotomies and restorations), as compared to the other dentists. Even though the operative dentists performed more of these procedures, more than 50% of them still did not frequently perform any of the procedures. A total of 244 (65.6%) dentists wanted to attend pediatric dentistry courses, if available. CONCLUSION: There is a major gap in the needs and availability of pediatric dentistry services. More training needs to be conducted at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels in pediatric dentistry. KEYWORDS: Pediatric dentistry, general dentists, other dental specialists, attitude and practices.