Usha Rani Bai G S,Vinod Kumar, Naveen Kumar, Praveen Kumar, Parveen Reddy

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Dental caries is a Universal dental health problem, affecting large number of population, in spite of best preventive strategies. Nowadays, we need a multidisciplinary approach to curb dental caries. Pediatrician is a first person who examines overall general health of the child. The Pediatrician should have thorough dental knowledge, and good attitude, in order to refer the child patient to Pediatric dentist. Aim and Objectives: To measure the dental Knowledge and Attitude of Pediatricians in referral to Pediatric dentistry. Materials and Methods: A pre - tested questionnaire about knowledge and attitude was offered to Pediatricians at their place of working and the completed questionnaire was collected very next day. The data collected were sent for statistical analysis; Descriptive statistics was used in analyzing data.Results: 100% Pediatricians replied that nutritional deficiency can affect oral health, 46.9% were aware of First dental visit of child at 6-12 months age. 95.3% of respondents replied that they were able to manage cleft lip and palate patients. 25% replied that they refer to Pediatric dentist every month. The overall Knowledge regarding Pediatric dentistry was 77.6% and attitude of referring to Pediatric dentistry was found to be 70.5%.Conclusion: The knowledge of Pediatricians regarding Pediatric dentistry was adequate, but their attitude in referral to the Pediatric dentist was low. Hence Pediatricians should update their knowledge by attending continuing dental education and symposiums about the importance of child oral health to improve the overall health of the child.