Knowledge And Attitude Regarding Herbal Products And Their Usage Among Dental House Surgeons Of Belagavi City- A Cross Sectional Study
BACKGROUND- As herbal therapies are increasingly being used around the world because they are perceived to be free of side effects, it is important that prescriber should be made aware of their possible harm or herbal drug interaction. The need for the study is to impart knowledge to the dentist bout the usage of herbal products and their safety concern and potential drug interactionMETHOD: This is the cross sectional questionnaire study conducted among dental house surgeons of Belagavi City. To assess the knowledge and attitude of the dental house surgeons towards the use of herbal extracts in dentistry. One hundred and twenty participants were recruited in a convenient sampling cross-sectional survey. A pretested self reported questionnaire was used and results were analyzed. Reliability of the questionnaire was tested using Cronbach's alpha which was found to be 0.78. Data were analyzed using SPSS 21.RESULTS- From the present study, it was seen that the participants do not have adequate knowledge regarding usage of herbal products in dentistry.CONCLUSION-We concluded that dental house surgeons do not have sufficient knowledge about the usage of herbal products in dentistry. It seems that traditional educational models are not efficient and government with other non-governmental organizations should emphasize to advocate motivational education methods including health belief model and motivational interview at undergraduate levels. Younger students and dentists may have less motivation to change their attitude and behaviour so that we can focus our interventions on these groups.DOI:10.21276/AOHDR.1896