Knowledge and Attitude among General Dental Practitioners towards Minimally Invasive Dentistry in Riyadh and AlKharj.

INTRODUCTION: Minimally Invasive Dentistry (MID) emphasizes conservative caries management strategies resulting in less destruction of tooth structure, a deviation of the traditional GV Black's restorative principles. However, there seems to be either deficiency in knowledge or little intention by general dental practitioners to adopt these principles.

AIM: The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge and attitude among general dental practitioners towards minimally invasive dentistry in Riyadh and AlKharj cities of Saudi Arabia.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Self-administered structured questionnaires were handed to general dental practitioners (GDPs) in the cities of Riyadh and AlKharj in Saudi Arabia. Several questions, including Likert-type scale response categories (1-5), were used. The questions assessed the respondents' levels of agreement regarding diagnostic, preventive and restorative techniques such as use of caries risk assessment, use of high fluoride tooth paste, Atraumatic Restorative Treatment and tunnel preparations.

RESULTS: Out of 200 respondents, 161 GDPs with overall response rate of 80.5% completed the questionnaires. The GDPs showed significantly different approach with regards to the use of sharp explorer for caries detection (p = 0.014). Almost 60% of the participants had received no special education regarding minimally invasive procedures. Moreover, GDPs who had received MID training showed significantly better knowledge and attitude in adopting minimally invasive techniques for both diagnosis and treatment of dental caries.

CONCLUSION: Although GDPs possess knowledge about the benefits of MID; however, study showed deficiencies in their attitudes towards caries detection methods and application of minimally invasive dentistry procedures.