Fissure sealants: Knowledge and practice of Yemeni dental practitioners.
OBJECTIVE
This study was conducted to evaluate Yemeni dental practitioners' knowledge and practices concerning fissure sealants.


METHODS
A modified questionnaire consisted of 25-items was distributed to 500 dentists working in Sana'a City. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square/Fisher's exact tests were used for statistical analyses.


RESULTS
The response rate was 74%. Most of the respondents were male (61.3%), general practitioners (84.2%), and had <5 years of clinical experience (48.3%). The respondents showed a reasonable level of knowledge about sealants, with the majority (88%) believed that there is strong scientific evidence about fissure sealants effectiveness and around 90% showed a good understanding of sealant placement instructions. On the other hand, respondents showed insufficient knowledge about sealants clinical practice.


CONCLUSIONS
Although a high proportion of dental practitioners showed adequate knowledge about dental sealant, following guidelines and standardized procedures in clinical practice is lacking. These emphasize the need for regular continuing education courses for dental professional.
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Sciences, AL-Farabi Colleges of Dentistry and Nursing, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.|Department of Oral Medicine and Diagnosis, Faculty of Dentistry, Sana'a University, Sana, Yemen.
Sadeq Ali
SA
Al-Maweri
Department of Oral Medicine and Diagnosis, Faculty of Dentistry, Sana'a University, Sana, Yemen.
Aisha Ahmed
AA
Al-Jamaei
Department of Oral Medicine and Diagnosis, Faculty of Dentistry, Jazan University, Saudi Arabia.|Department of Oral Medicine and Diagnosis, Sana'a University, Sana, Yemen.
Esam Saleh
ES
Halboub
Department of Health Policy and Administration, Washington State University, Pullman, USA.
Walid Ahmed
WA
Al-Soneidar
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Sciences, AL-Farabi Colleges of Dentistry and Nursing, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Bassel
B
Tarakji
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Sciences, AL-Farabi Colleges of Dentistry and Nursing, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Anas
A
Alsalhani
Dental sealants; knowledge; practice; prevention