Knowledge, attitude, and practice of pediatric dentists about silver diamine fluoride (SDF) in Iran

Background: Dental caries is the most common oral and dental disease especially among preschool children. Silver diamine fluoride (SDF) is an inexpensive and topical medication that is used to stop caries in infants who do not have the necessary cooperation for receiving dentistry treatments. The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of Iranian pedodontists about SDF.Materials and methods: This analytical-descriptive study of cross-sectional type was done on ۱۹۰ dentists who were members of Iranian association of pediatric dentistry. The questionnaire of this study included four sections (demographic information, items related to the knowledge, attitude, and practice), which was provided to the participants online. The data were analyzed by Mann-Whitney, Chi-squared, and Spearman statistical tests.Results: The level of knowledge of pedodontists with regards to SDF was good for ۱۷۸ (۹۳.۷%) of specialists, and no specialist with poor knowledge was found. Among ۹۳ (۴۸.۹%) of specialists in this research positive attitude was found with regards to SDF. among ۱۹۰ pedodontists, use of SDF for treatment of carious lesions of deciduous teeth was observed in ۸۵ (۴۴.۷%) of subjects.Conclusion: The level of knowledge and attitude of pediatric dentists about SDF was favorable, and had no relationship with age, gender, working background, and occupational status. An inverse significant relationship was seen between the score of attitude and working background of pedodontists; with increase in their working background, the positive attitude decreased among them. There was a direct relationship between level of knowledge and attitude of pedodontists. Regarding practice, the obtained results were relatively favorable. The practice had a significant relationship with age, gender, and working background.