Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Forensic Odontology among Dental Practitioners

Abstract

Background: The major application of forensic odontology includes the identification of human remains using antemortem and postmortem dental records where an individual is skeletonized, burnt, decomposed, or diminished and cannot be identified by regular methods. The present study aims to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of forensic odontology in dental practitioners.
Methods: This questionnaire-based cross-sectional descriptive study was done among dental practitioners working in different hospitals, medical colleges and dental clinics in Kathmandu, Nepal. A total of 171 general dental practitioners, specialists and faculty members were included in the study. The questionnaire included eight questions related to knowledge, four questions on attitude and four questions on practice. The data obtained was entered into a Microsoft Excel sheet and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences Version 21. For knowledge, attitude and practice scores, frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation were calculated. The independent sample t-test was used to compare the knowledge, attitude and practice scores between general dentists and specialists.
Results: The mean knowledge score was 6.70±0.73, the mean attitude score was 2.05±0.97and the mean practice score was 2.68±0.89. Of the total study participants, 170 (99.4%) had adequate knowledge,122(71.3%) had adequate attitude, and 153(89.5%) had adequate practice. There was no statistically significant difference in mean knowledge and practice scores between general dentists and specialists. The mean attitude score was found to be higher among general dentists than among specialists, which was statistically significant (p-value less than 0.05).
Conclusions: The study highlights a gap between dentists’ knowledge and their attitudes and practices regarding forensic odontology. While they are well-informed, there is a need to improve their practical engagement and record-keeping for effective forensic application in medicolegal cases.
Keywords: Cross-sectional study; dentist; nepal; professional role.