Knowledge, Attitudes and Compliance to Infection Control Guidelines in Private Dental Clinics in Israel, a Cross Sectional Survey

Background: Little is known on adherence to infection control in Israeli private dental clinics. This study aimed to investigate the Knowledge, Attitudes, and Adherence to infection prevention and control (IPC) guidelines in private dental clinics in Israel. Methods A cross-sectional survey among dentists working in private dental clinics in Israel. Knowledge, Attitudes and Adherence to IPC guidelines were assessed using an online questionnaire sent to the study participants via e-mail, Facebook and other social media platforms. The questionnaire included 49 multiple-choice questions on demographics, Knowledge, Attitudes and Adherence to IPC guidelines. Statistical analysis included descriptive statistics; a composite score for each domain (Knowledge, Attitude and Adherence) was calculated (percentage of correct answers in Knowledge domain, percentage of positive answers ("agree" or "strongly agree") in Attitude domain, and percentage of high adherence ("all the time", "frequently" or "yes") in the Adherence domain). The association between Knowledge and Attitude scores, and Adherence with IPC practices was assessed by chi-square test. Hierarchical multivariable logistic regression was used to adjust for demographic variables. Results The questionnaire was sent to 270 dentists and 100 participated in the study (overall response rate of 37%). The majority of participants (63%) had moderate scores in the knowledge domain (scores between 50–70%), 47% had a positive score in the Attitude domain (scores above 80%), and only 41% had a high score in the Adherence to IPC domain (scores above 80%). Compliance with IPC score was highest among participants with a high knowledge score (70.0%), compared to moderate (33.3%) and low (35.3%) scores; and among participants with a positive Attitude score (51.1%), compared to neutral (39.5%) and negative (13.3%) Attitude scores. In the multivariable analysis, Knowledge and Attitude scores were independent predictors of good IPC practice (with an effect size of 0.28). Conclusions In this survey, compliance with IPC guidelines among dentists in private clinics in Israel was generally low. We found a positive correlation between Knowledge, Attitude and Adherence to IPC guidelines. Educational programs and courses on IPC are recommended to improve Knowledge and positive Attitudes and thus increase compliance.