Table 3 Percentage of dentists endorsing barriers of knowledge and attitudes to placing sealants on NCCL and potential implementation strategies targeting barriers of knowledge and attitudes
From: Barriers to sealant guideline implementation within a multi-site managed care dental practice
Question | Response option 1 Percentage (n/total responding) | Response option 2 Percentage (n/total responding) | Response option 3 Percentage (n/total responding) | Response option 4 Percentage (n/total responding) | Response option 5 Percentage (n/total responding) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Potential Barriers | |||||
Sealants are very effective in arresting decay when there is noncavitated occlusal caries. | Strongly agree 18% (12/66) | Somewhat agree 27% (18/66) | Neither agree nor disagree 27% (18/66) | Somewhat disagree 24% (16/66) | Strongly disagree 3% (2/66) |
Do you think restoring a noncavitated occlusal carious lesion provides a better outcome for the patient when compared with a sealant? | Always 9% (6/65) | Most of the time 28% (18/65) | About half the time 14% (9/65) | Sometimes 43% (28/65) | Never 6% (4/65) |
Among your patients, how well do sealants prevent occlusal caries? | Extremely well 30% (20/67) | Very well 48% (32/67) | Moderately well 21% (14/67) | Slightly well 1% (1/67) | Not well at all 0% |
Among your patients, how often do sealants fail (i.e., caries occurs) within a year? | Frequently 3% (2/67) | Occasionally 43% (29/67) | Rarely 52% (35/67) | Never 1% (1/67) | |
Among your patients, for how long do sealants last before ultimately needing to be touched up or replaced? | 6–12 months 2% (1/66) | 13–24 months 29% (19/66) | 25–36 months 48% (32/66) | More than 36 months 21% (14/66) | |
How familiar were you with these definitions prior to starting the survey? | Extremely familiar 30% (20/67) | Very familiar 36% (24/67) | Moderately familiar 27% (18/67) | Slightly familiar 6% (4/67) | Not familiar at all 1% (1/67) |
In general, when you diagnose carious occlusal lesions, do you distinguish between lesions with and without macroscopic breakdown in surface tooth structure (i.e., cavitated versus noncavitated) as defined above? | Yes 70% (46/66) | No 30% (20/66) | |||
Implementation Strategies | |||||
Have you heard about the development of diagnostic codes in dentistry? | Yes 55% (36/65) | No 45% (29/65) | |||