Knowledge and attitude to dental implant placement amongst a group of Nigerian dentists

Abstract

Background: The perceptions and experiences of dentists from different specialties on the use of dental implant and its applications can be instrumental in its use exhaustively.
 Objectives: To determine the opinions and experiences of a population of Nigerian dentists towards dental implant.
 Methods: Data for the study were collated using a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire assessed the familiarity of the participants with various implant systems, their designs, sizes and loading as well as the provision of replacement for missing teeth.
 Result: The estimated functional life of an implant was reported to be less than 5 years by 2.5% of the respondents; 5 to 10 years by 11.3% of the respondents; 10 to 20 years by 26.3% and more than 20 years by 28.7% of the respondents while 31.3% had no idea about the estimated functional life of an implant. Exposure and experience with dental implants were low as only 30.0% of the respondents had attended any dental implant course/training with 95.0% of the respondents expressing the opinion that they did not have enough training in dental implantology.
 Conclusion: The exposure and experience with dental implants was low among the respondents.
 Keywords: Dental implant; Dentist; Knowledge.

Editorial

“…Others: this contains papers on low back pain 67 ; musculoskeletal disorder among dentists 68 ; and traditional bone setting in Cameroon 69 . There are radiology papers [70][71][72] ; community health workers [73][74][75] and a heterogenous group of papers including dental implants 76 ; renal cysts 77 ; bearing loss 78 biometrics 79 ; medicinal plants 80 and a review of NCDs 81 and thromboembolism 82 . Quite a journey!…”