Comparison of knowledge, attitudes and practice of dental safety from eight countries at the turn of the century.

Objective: To compare infection control (IC) knowledge,attitudes and practice of dentists across eight countries. Methods: Self-administered infection control surveys werecompleted by 1,874 clinicians in eight countries. Practitioner�sknowledge, attitudes, and practice of infection control wereexamined using over 100 variables. Chi-squared statistics (a =0.05) were used to compare respondents from different nationalgroups. Results: Immunizations rates varied significantly across theeight countries (p Conclusion: Analyses from this study suggest that the dentalIC knowledge and practice varied widely across the eightcountries of interest. Many of the countries were found to havebarriers to access IC materials. Results indicate that all eightcountries could use improved education standards for universalprecautions. Clinical significance: Knowledge, attitudes and practice ofdental safety vary in different parts of the world. This studycompares the compliance rates in dental safety among countriesand pegs them to the level of practice in the United States. Thisstudy also provides evidence-based data on the needs in theregions surveyed and could be used to implement remedialeducational measures in improving safe practices.