Dental sealants: knowledge, opinion, values and practice of portuguese dental hygienists

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of this study is to characterize the sample of responders and to present the data obtained from the evaluation on the knowledge, opinion, values, and practice (KOVP) of dental hygienists in Portugal concerning pit and fissures sealants. Methods: A non-probabilistic sample of 142 individuals was obtained from the members of the Portuguese Association of Dental Hygienists. Participants answered an online questionnaire composed of four demographic questions and 31 statements regarding KOVP about dental sealants, graded from 0 to 5, with 5 being the most agreement with the statement. The Wilcoxon matched-pairs sign ranks test, the Mann-Whitney test, the Kruskal-Wallis test, the Spearman’s correlation, and the V-Cramer test were used to analyze the data. Results: Portuguese dental hygienists present positive feedback about the use of dental sealants. The mean scores for each of the studied variables were: knowledge = 3.63 ± 0.29; opinion = 2.87 ± 0.42; value = 2.92 ± 0.44, and practice = 3.76 ± 0.46. Knowledge differed with years of experience (p<0.01), and opinion and practice both also differed with type of clinical practice (p<0.01 in both). Statistically positive significant correlations were found between knowledge and practice (p<0.01). Conclusions: Portuguese dental hygienists have positive feelings about pit and fissure sealants. The positive correlation between knowledge and practice can be used to further increase the use of dental sealants in Portugal.