Awareness and practice of infection control by dental technicians in Jeju Province

Abstract

The purpose of study was to recognize and analyze the awareness and practice of infection control by dental technicians in Jeju Province. The data were acquired from on-line and off-line questionnaires filled out by 102 dental technicians. A statistical analysis was conducted by utilizing a frequency analysis, chi-squared test and one-way ANOVA by SPSS 22.0. Fifty-two of the 102 respondents (51.0%) acquired their dental technician license in Jeju Province. The subjects who had been educated on infection control during college or had supplementary education after graduation were 33 (32.4%) and 19 (18.6%), respectively. These results showed that the awareness and practice of the infection control during dental prosthesis fabrication were 2.41±1.10 and 2.12±1.31 on a Likert 5-point scale. The main reasons for the lack of awareness and practice of infection control were due to excessive amount of work, lack of infection control guideline, sense of necessity and concerns about deformation. Higher awareness and practice of infection control during prosthesis fabrication were associated with male gender and seniority of position at work. The statistically significant differences in awareness and practice of infection control were associated with type of laboratory, working time and training after college education. The practice scores were ranked higher in dental technicians with smaller sized laboratory, shorter working hour and more breaks during works. Dental technician’s education level on infection control was insufficient and they had tended to practice less than their level of awareness. Therefore, an ongoing and systematic infection control training and surveillance would deem necessary.