ATTITUDE OF PATIENTS TOWARDS RUBBER DAM APPLICATION

Abstract

Objective: Rubber dam is universally recognized as a compulsory adjunct in dental treatment and it constitutes a gold standard in restorative and endodontic treatment. This study was done to determine attitude of patients towards rubber dam application. Study Design: Cross sectional study. Setting: Operative Dentistry department, Lahore Medical and Dental College, th nd Lahore. Period: 13 June 2019 to 2 November 2019 Material and Methods: Using the convenience sampling technique, questionnaires were distributed among 114 participants. The questionnaire contained demographic data, participant's current experience of rubber dam use, their expectation for the visit and future preference, clinical experience of the treating doctor, time taken to apply rubber dam and duration the dam was in place. Results: 7.9% participants had pleasant, 41.2% comfortable, 42.1% uncomfortable and 8.8% painful current experience respectively. Out of 114 participants, 49.1% expected better experience for the next visit however, 9.6% expected worse experience and 41.2% expected about the same experience. The more experienced the dentist was, better was the current experience of participants as well as better expectation for next visit. Significant association was also found between time taken to apply rubber dam and designation of operator. Conclusion: Our study emphasized that more the experienced the operator, less will be the time taken for rubber dam application. In addition, when the need for rubber dam application was clearly explained to the patient, acceptance for future rubber dam use was high.