title: Expectations and perceptions of Nigerian patients regarding infectious diseases in dentistry.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the expectations and perceptions of Nigerian patients regarding infectious diseases in dentistry.
  
  
  METHODS
  A questionnaire based cross-sectional survey of patients attending the dental centre of University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Nigeria was conducted in 2009.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Out of the 405 patients that responded, 75.6% expressed worry about contracting infection during the dental treatment. Respondents felt that they are at risk of contracting the following infection from the dental clinic, HIV (47.4%), hepatitis B and C (15.5%), herpes (3.5%) and tuberculosis (1.7%). One-quarter (25.4%) of the respondents would avoid dental treatment because of fear of contracting HIV. Ninety-two (22.7%) would switch from dental clinic with HIV infected personnel and 37.8% would allow HIV-infected dentist to treat them. Only 10.4% of the respondents would expect the dentist to refuse to render dental treatment to the HIV-infected patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This survey revealed that a high proportion of Nigerian patients are worried about contracting infectious disease during dental treatment and this impacted negatively on how they seek dental care. Improved public education and communication on the risk involved with dental treatments is needed to allay the fear of Nigerian patients.
authors.affiliation: Dpt periodontics, university teaching hospital, Benin.
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Azodo
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Umoh
authors.forename: H O
authors.initials: HO
authors.lastname: Oboro
authors.forename: A O
authors.initials: AO
authors.lastname: Ehizele
authors.forename: E B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Ezeja
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003729:Dental Care / Q000523:psychology; D003797:Dental Staff; D003812:Dentist-Patient Relations; D003815:Dentists; D018562:Disease Transmission, Infectious; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000523:psychology / Q000635:transmission; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000523:psychology / Q000635:transmission; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000523:psychology / Q000635:transmission; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000523:psychology / Q000635:transmission; D006801:Humans; D017757:Infectious Disease Transmission, Professional-to-Patient; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009549:Nigeria; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology*; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000635:transmission*; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000635:transmission*; D055815:Young Adult