Knowledge, awareness, attitude and practice of dental practitioners regarding Covid-19 pandemic and infection control: a cross sectional study in Kolkata metropolitan region.

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global pandemic with more than 53,973 people affected in West Bengal state of India.

Objectives: The aim of present study was to assess the Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) of dental practitioners in Kolkata city, West Bengal, India regarding COVID-2019 pandemic.

Materials And Method: Online questionnaire was distributed among dentists across West Bengal city, using a combination of convenience and snowball sampling. The questionnaire had 17 questions: (1) Section A was 'General section' which comprised of socio-demographic and professional details of the subjects; and (2) Section B comprised of 14 questions depicting knowledge, awareness attitude and practice regarding COVID-19. The data collected was subjected to statistical analysis with level of significance at p=0.05. The descriptive statistical analysis was done to compute frequency and percentages. Intergroup comparison was determined by Chi-square statistical analysis to determine the level of significance for responses of each question.

Results: Around 70.4% undergraduates participated in the study. Only 4.3% showed accurate knowledge with respect to the incubation period of coronavirus. Coughing and sneezing was considered to be the most common mode of transmission. 98.9% of dentists considered fever to be the characteristic symptom of the disease. Hand washing and alcohol rubs was advocated by 99.5% of the dentist. Emergency procedures were considered necessary by 90.8% dentists. 75.1% of dentists agree that their practice has been affected by the pandemic.

Conclusion: A constant update regarding COVID-19 should be made available to dental health care professionals through webinars, seminars, discussions and articles. Dentists should keep themselves updated and help to fight against this pandemic.