Hina Zafar Raja, Aqsa Nadeem, Hina Naeem Awan.
Assessment of knowledge of anterior dental esthetics amongst dental practitioners.
Pak Oral Dental J Jan ;36(2):341-4.

The objectives of this study were firstly to assess the effect of the current curriculum on knowledge of anterior dental esthetics in dental graduates. Secondly to compare the influence of clinical experience on existing knowledge of anterior dental esthetics. A cross sectional study was carried out amongst the house surgeons, general dentists and specialists (prosthodontics, maxillofacial surgery. operative dentistry, periodontics, orthodontics) of six dental colleges of Lahore district during June 2014 using convenient sampling. A data of total two hundred and eighty four (n=284) study subjects was collected. The demographic details were descriptive of practitioners’ age, gender, category and year of graduation. The questionnaire composed of 30 survey questions to know their knowledge about gingival2 and dental3 esthetics. Data were analyzed on SPSS version 20.0. Chi square test was used to find any association amongst various variables. p value was considered statistically significant, if ≤ 0.05. The results showed only 141 (49.6%) out of 284 dentists had satisfactory knowledge about gingival esthetics. 261 (91.9%) out of 284 dentists had satisfactory knowledge about anterior dental aesthetics. Satisfactory knowledge about gingival aesthetics was higher in prostho/restorative/perio specialty (76.1%) as compared to other categories, showing statistical significance (p <0.001). Dentists with >10 years’ experience had satisfactory knowledge (73.1%) about gingival esthetics than those with > 10 years’ experience (p=0.008). Dentists with >10 years of experience had satisfactory knowledge of anterior dental esthetics, but continuing dental education can improve the professional excellence.

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