Title

Assessment of infection control knowledge, attitude and practice among private dental practitioners in India

Authors

Neeraj Singh Chauhan, Abhishek Gupta*, Mayank Dwivedi, Mamta Talekar, Abhijeet Malve & Mayank Pandey

Affiliation

Department of Public Health Dentistry, Bhabha College of Dental Sciences, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India; *Corresponding author

Email

Neeraj Singh Chauhan - E-mail: drneerajschauhan@gmail.com
Abhishek Gupta - E-mail: itsmeabhishekgupta@gmail.com
Mayank Dwivedi - E-mail: mayankdwivedi2010@gmail.com
Mamta Talekar - E-mail: mamtatalekar19@gmail.com
Abhijeet Malve - E-mail: malveabhijit@yahoo.com
Mayank Pandey - E-mail: mayankpandey437@gmail.com

Article Type

Research Article

Date

Received September 1, 2026; Revised September 30, 2026; Accepted September 30, 2026, Published September 30, 2026

Abstract

Infection control is essential for safe dental practice, yet compliance among private dental practitioners remains inconsistent. Therefore, it is of interest to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of infection control among 170 registered private dental practitioners in Bhopal using a validated 42-item questionnaire. The mean knowledge, attitude and practice scores were 68.0%, 69.2% and 58.0%, respectively, with major deficiencies in sterilization monitoring, biomedical waste management and barrier protection. Attitude was positively associated with practice (r = 0.54, p < 0.001), while MDS qualification, workshop attendance and higher attitude scores independently predicted better infection control practices. These findings reveal a substantial knowledge–practice gap and emphasize the need for continuing education and strengthened infection control training.

Keywords

Infection control, dental practitioners, knowledge, attitude, practice, cross-sectional study, Bhopal, India

Citation

Chauhan et al. Bioinformation 22(9): 5938-5944 (2026)

Edited by

Ruby Singh

ISSN

0973-2063

Publisher

Biomedical Informatics

License

This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.