title: Differences by age and sex in general dental practitioners' knowledge, attitudes and behaviours in delivering prevention.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess sex and age differences in NHS dentists' knowledge, attitudes and behaviours in providing preventive care.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted with dentists working in North London, UK.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The sample displayed limited knowledge in certain key aspects of prevention, but expressed generally positive attitudes towards preventive care. More female and younger dentists reported that a child should attend the dentist before the age of 3 years (p = 0.03 and p = 0.04, respectively). No other differences in knowledge or attitudes were found by age and sex. The majority of the sample reported routinely providing oral hygiene (95.7%), diet (85.4%) and smoking cessation advice (76.7%), but provision of alcohol advice was much less common (38%). A significantly higher proportion of younger dentists were more likely to give diet advice (p = 0.03) and smoking cessation support (p = 0.009) than their older colleagues. Female dentists were more likely to provide fissure sealants (p = 0.04), diet advice (p = 0.02) and smoking cessation support (p = 0.03). The main perceived barriers were related to organisational factors including insufficient remuneration (86.3%), lack of time (84%) and poor patient compliance (66%). There were no significant differences in perceived barriers by sex, but younger dentists were significantly more likely to identify poor patient compliance as a barrier (p = 0.02).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although dentists in this study may lack some core preventive knowledge, many expressed very positive attitudes towards prevention and reported to be routinely offering a range of preventive measures. Younger and female dentists tended to engage more frequently in preventive activities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology &Public Health, UCL, 1-19 Torrington Place, London, WC1E 6BT.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yusuf
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology &Public Health, UCL, 1-19 Torrington Place, London, WC1E 6BT.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tsakos
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology &Public Health, UCL, 1-19 Torrington Place, London, WC1E 6BT.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ntouva
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology &Public Health, UCL, 1-19 Torrington Place, London, WC1E 6BT.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology &Public Health, UCL, 1-19 Torrington Place, London, WC1E 6BT.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Porter
authors.affiliation: Division of Health and Social Care Research, King's College London Dental Institute, Caldecott Road, London, SE5 9RW, UK.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Newton
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology &Public Health, UCL, 1-19 Torrington Place, London, WC1E 6BT.
authors.forename: R G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Watt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000517:prevention & control; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003815:Dentists / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004032:Diet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009910:Oral Hygiene / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019239:Practice Patterns, Dentists' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011313:Preventive Dentistry / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012737:Sex Factors; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology