AWARENESS OF USING RUBBER DAM IN RESTORATIVE PROCEDURES AMONG DENTISTS

Abstract

Successful restorations in dental patients depend largely on the effective control of moisture and microbes during the procedure. The rubber dam technique has been one of the most widely used isolation methods in dental restorative treatments. The evidence on the effects of rubber dam usage on the longevity of dental restorations is conflicting. Therefore, it is important to summarise the available evidence to determine the effects of this method. The most common reasons for not using rubber dam for a procedure were patients’ inconvenience. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of restoration using rubber dam and dentists’ attitude to rubber dam. A questionnaire containing 15 questions was circulated to 150 Dental practitioners. The questionnaire is about the patient attitude, disadvantage and advantages of using rubber dam towards the quality of restoration, and whether they agreed or disagreed with some aspects of the rubber dam. The questions were then collected and evaluated. The data was subjected to statical analysis.25% of the respondents used rubber dam in their practice,45% felt rubber dam prevents swallowing,30% felt rubber dam causes breathing difficulty in patients during treatment.60% said rubber dam prevents salivary contamination,25% said rubber dam prevents microbial contamination and 15% said rubber dam improved working efficiency .This  study concluded the awareness about the use of rubber dam among dentists is moderate. It may be necessary to increase the awareness of private practitioners to the benefits of rubber dam use by means of continuing education and stressing its importance in undergraduate studies.