Dental students knowledge and practice towards surgical mouth mask usage - A Cross Sectional Survey

Abstract

Introduction: Surgical mouth mask plays an important role in each and every procedure in dental practise. It acts as a barrier and prevents transmission and spreading of pathogens through water aerosols and many microorganisms which are produced in the dental setup. In order to prevent and minimize the risk of infections, the dental practitioners and the auxiliary staff present in the clinic must wear precautious fluid resistant masks. Therefore the aim of the study is to create awareness of surgical mouth mask usage among dental students. Materials and methods: A questionnaire based survey was conducted using google forms. This standard questionnaire consisted of 12 questions and it was circulated among the students in saveetha dental college and responses were collected and statistically analysed using SPSS software. Descriptive statistics were expressed by means of number, frequency, and percentage. Chi-square test was used to find the association between year of study and Number of responses provided by the participants. Result: The age of participants ranges from 17 to 30 years. The study population was asked about awareness of wearing a mouth mask 97.25% were aware. When asked if they wear a mouth mask in public places 88.99% said yes. Conclusion: Based on the results of the present study, it was found that the awareness about the usage of surgical masks is high for the 3rd year dental students compared to the 1st, 2nd, 4th year dental students, but more awareness has to be spread in order to improve the usage of surgical masks.