A SURVEY ANALYSIS OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF DRY SOCKET AND MANAGEMENT AMONG DENTAL PRACTITIONERS

Introduction: Exodontia is a common procedure in Dentistry. Dry Socket (DS) is one of the delayed post-extraction complication, reported usually 2-4 days postoperatively with moderate to severe pain with the incidence of 0.5-5% in routine extractions. Aims and objectives: The basic aim of the study is to analyse the knowledge of dry socket and management among dental practitioners. Material and methods: This cross sectional study was conducted in University Medical & Dental College, Faisalabad during January 2019 to October 2019. A questionnaire was developed by keeping objectives of study in view and questions were directed to assess the prevalence of knowledge of dry socket. One hundred and twenty-nine (129) structured questionnaires were distributed consisting of fourteen questions among Dental Practitioners (DP). Results: There were 100 complete responses from the total of 120 sampled with the participation rate of 96.4%. Age of respondents ranged between 18 and 30 years with the mean of 23.02 (SD = 2.074) years. Frequency distribution according to sex is different. 85.7% female have knowledge and 76.6% of male. Conclusion: It is concluded that the knowledge of Dry Socket and its diagnosis / treatment for general practitioners is an important; one should know baseline of dry socket to treat. However, certain aspects of diagnosis and management is misunderstood.