Community Dental Health

cover art

Cover Date:
March 2007
Print ISSN:
0265 539X
Vol:
24
Issue:
1

Knowledge of and attitudes toward severe acute respiratory syndrome among a cohort of dental patients in Hong Kong following a major local outbreak

Objective: To assess the knowledge of and attitudes toward severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) among patients attending a teaching dental hospital and private dental practices in Hong Kong during a major local SARS outbreak. Methods: 250 dental patients were interviewed by questionnaire and 213 were interviewed by phone. Results: Less than one-third (30.0%) of the 463 respondents said they were not afraid of contracting the SARS coronavirus from their dentists and did not avoid dental treatment for that reason. Nearly three-fifths (56.7%) did not worry about contracting SARS from dental treatment. Fewer than 10% of the respondents thought that dentists ran a high risk of contracting SARS. From the patients’ experiences, 85.2% and 21.7% of the dentists wore face masks and face shields, respectively, when delivering dental treatment. Conclusions: The majority of patients interviewed had confidence in their dentists, their treatment environments, and the infection control measures taken, and were not worried about contracting SARS in the dental setting. This perception is an improvement from that described in an earlier study, in which more than half of the patients were concerned about contracting an infection during dental treatment and perceived that the infection control measures undertaken by the dental profession to prevent infectious diseases were not satisfactory. Patients, however, demanded better infection control measures during the SARS outbreak.

Key words: Coronavirus pneumonia infection, new infection, virus-loaded aerosol, dental office

Article Price
£15.00
Institution Article Price
£
Page Start
43
Page End
48
Authors
H.K. Yip, P.C.S. Tsang, L.P. Samaranayake, A.H.P. Li

Articles from this issue

  • Title
  • Pg. Start
  • Pg. End

  1. Editorial - Expanding dental undergraduate clinical outreach programmes into general dental practice.
  2. 2
  3. 3

  1. Community effectiveness of fissure sealants and the effect of fluoridated water consumption
  2. 4
  3. 11

  1. Financial systems’ impact on dental care; a review of fee-forservice and capitation systems
  2. 12
  3. 20

  1. Agreement amongst examiners assessing dental fluorosis from digital photographs using the TF index.
  2. 21
  3. 25

  1. Frequency and distribution patterns of sealants among 15-year-olds in Denmark in 2003
  2. 26
  3. 30

  1. Enamel defects and its relation to life course events in primary dentition of Brazilian children: A longitudinal study
  2. 31
  3. 36

  1. Oral health care and status of elderly care home residents in Glasgow.
  2. 37
  3. 42

  1. Knowledge of and attitudes toward severe acute respiratory syndrome among a cohort of dental patients in Hong Kong following a major local outbreak
  2. 43
  3. 48

  1. Conversion tables for the Corah and Modified Dental Anxiety Scales
  2. 49
  3. 54

  1. An audit of paediatric dental treatments carried out under general anaesthesia in a sample of Spanish patients
  2. 55
  3. 58

  1. BASCD Survey report
  2. 59
  3. 63