title: Occupational Hepatitis B Exposure: A Peek into Indian Dental Students' Knowledge, Opinion, and Preventive Practices.
abstract: Objective. To determine the level of knowledge, opinions, and preventive practices followed by dental students against Hepatitis B. The study also explored if any correlation existed between knowledge, opinion, and preventive practices score. Materials and Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted in a dental teaching institution. The subjects comprised 216 dental students. The study was conducted using a pretested, self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire was prepared to assess knowledge, opinion, and preventive practices against Hepatitis B. Kruskal-Wallis and Kendall Tau test were performed. Results. The study found that only 44.4% of the students were vaccinated with Hepatitis B vaccine. 59.3% of the students reported washing their hands after contact with patient's body fluids. 63.9% used personal protective measures like facemask, aprons, head cap, eye shields, and so forth, while treating patients. Median knowledge, opinion, and practice scores were found to be 5.00, 3.00, and 3.00, respectively. Significant correlation was obtained between knowledge and preventive practices score (r = 0.385, p value <0.0001). Conclusion. Effective measures need to be taken to improve preventive practices of the students to prevent them from risk of Hepatitis transmission. Mandatory vaccination against Hepatitis B needs to be implemented.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Dentistry, Sri Aurobindo College of Dentistry, Indore, Madhya Pradesh 453555, India.
authors.forename: Sandeep
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Prosthodontics, Hazaribag College of Dental Sciences, Jharkhand 825301, India.
authors.forename: Debashish
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Basak
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Dentistry, Sarjug Dental College and Hospital, Bihar 846003, India.
authors.forename: Amit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Dentistry, Sri Aurobindo College of Dentistry, Indore, Madhya Pradesh 453555, India.
authors.forename: Pralhad
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dasar
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Dentistry, Sri Aurobindo College of Dentistry, Indore, Madhya Pradesh 453555, India.
authors.forename: Prashant
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mishra
authors.affiliation: Department of Prosthodontics, Hazaribag College of Dental Sciences, Jharkhand 825301, India.
authors.forename: Arunoday
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Medicine Diagnosis and Radiology, Sri Aurobindo College of Dentistry, Indore, Madhya Pradesh 453555, India.
authors.forename: Siddharth
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kumar Singh
authors.affiliation: Department of Prosthodontics, Dental College, RIMS, Imphal, Manipur 795004, India.
authors.forename: Nitai
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Debnath
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Medicine Diagnosis and Radiology, Sri Aurobindo College of Dentistry, Indore, Madhya Pradesh 453555, India.
authors.forename: Anjali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gupta