Manar Said Abdel Hafiz Al Sharif, Kamal Mohamed El-Motayam And Hany Mohamed Saber,

ABSTRACT
Background: Oral Health Is Fundamental To General Health And Well-being. A Healthy Mouth Enables An Individual To Speak, Eat And Socialize Without Experiencing Active Disease, Discomfort Or Embarrassment.Dental Caries Is The Most Common Dental Disease. Although, It Is A Preventable And Reversible Process But When Left Untreated It Results In Pain, Speech Disorders And Premature Tooth Loss With Its Sequelae Of Compromised Chewing And Harm To The Permanent Dentition, Defective Growth And Development In Addition To High Treatment Costs.

Aim: This Study Was Conducted To Evaluate Knowledge, Attitude And Practices In A Group Of Egyptian Dentists Towards Preventive Measures In Pediatric Dentistry. Participants And Methods: This Cross-sectional Study Was Conducted In Cairo, Egypt At Pediatric Dentistry Department, Faculty Of Dentistry-Cairo University And The Outpatient Dental Clinics At Police Academy Hospital.Data Were Collected Through A KAP Questionnaire Based Survey. A Convenient Consecutive Sampling Was Applied To Include All Postgraduate Dentists At Pediatric Dentistry Department, Faculty Of Dentistry-Cairo University And All Dentists Working At The Out-patient Dental Clinics At Police Academy Hospitals. Questionnaire Was In English Language And Consisted Of 37 Questions; 36 Binary Questions (Yes/ No) And One Open Ended Question ,related To KAP Of Egyptian Dentists On Different Preventive Measures In Pediatric Dentistry And Their Relationship To Practitioner Gender, Nature Of Primary Practice, Total Year In Practice And Scientific Degree.A Total Number Of One-hundred And Thirteen (113) Questionnaires Were Distributed On All Dentists Available At The Time Of Recruitment. The Participants Who Were Unwilling To Participate Or Absent On The Days Of The Questionnaire Were Not Included In The Study.

Results: The Levels Of Knowledge, Attitude And Practice Were Higher Among Participating Dentists From Pediatric Dentistry Department, Faculty Of Dentistry, Cairo University. There Was No Statistically Significance Between Both Groups Except For The Level Of Practice.

Conclusions: The Results Of This Study Concluded That There Is A Strong Need For Education Of Egyptian Dentists About Preventive Measures In Pediatric Dentistry To Ensure Providing The Ultimate Dental Care For Pediatric Patients In Egypt.