Attitudes of Libyan Patients towards the Use of Rubber Dam in Endodontic Treatment in Benghazi

Abstract

Aims: this study investigated the attitudes of adult patients in Benghazi towards the use of rubber dam (RD) and evaluated time needed for rubber dam application and duration of use. Methodology: A self-administrated questionnaire was designed and distributed to 200 patients receiving endodontic treatment by: (a) General Dental Practitioners (GDPs) (b) Endodontists. Patients were kindly requested to fill the questionnaire directly after the treatment. Data were entered into a database and subsequently analyzed using SPSS. Results: The majority of patients (77% and 70%) whom were treated by endodontists and GDPs respectively reported they would prefer RD to be used at their next appointment, and most had a positive attitude of the experience. A statistically significant association between age and gender was found among the GDPs' patients (P<0.05). 87.9% and 65.6% of patients whom were treated by endodontists and GPDs respectively reported that the operators sufficiently explained the purpose of rubber dam to them, a statistically significant difference between the two groups of patients (P<0.001) was reported. The mean time needed for rubber dam placement was 4.28 min for GDPs and 1.10 minutes for endodontists, which was statistically significant. A significant difference between the two groups of patients with regards to their opinions toward the benefit of using the rubber dam was noticed (P< 0.05). Prolonged RD use exhibited association with a negative opinion of the experience of RD. Conclusions: Patients generally showed a positive attitude towards the RD. Moreover, some patients showed a negative attitude because of time taken by inexperienced operator in placement of rubber dam.

Evaluation of Rubber Dam Use in Endodontic Treatments in Terms of Patients' Awareness Level, Acceptability, and Usage Experience

“…The majority of patients participating in this study expressed positive preferences for the use of rubber dam in their next treatment. Similar results were found in other studies examining patients' attitudes towards rubber dams [13,21,24,25]. The results obtained support that patients do not view the rubber dam application negatively and even want to apply it.…”

Comparison of Functional Outcomes of Two Different Rubber Dam Systems in Dental Practices

“…of 4.4), although this difference was not statistically significant. A study by Orafi et al 14 revealed that the average time required for general practitioners to apply a conventional rubber dam was 4.28 minutes. Based on different studies, installing a rubber dam takes an average of 1 to 2 minutes.…”

Evaluation of Patient Attitude towards Rubber dam use in Endodontic Treatment

“…Similar to most countries, usage of rubber dam in Pakistan is scarcely practiced among general dentists and dental students. 6 This may be due to various reasons which include inadequate training during clinical years, application technique and time required, additional cost of equipment and materials 7,8 . It takes an average time of 4.28 minutes for general dental practitioners to place a rubber dam.…”