Conocimientos, actitudes y prácticas de odontólogos de la USTA respecto a la apnea obstructiva del sueño

Abstract

Introduction: Obstructive Sleep Apnea is one of the most investigated sleep disorders due to the complications suffered by people who suffer from it. For this reason its treatment is of an interdisciplinary nature, in which the dentist plays an important role in the diagnosis and timely management, and for this reason it is vital to understand the level of knowledge, attitudes and practices that dentists have in this regard. Objective: To determine the knowledge, attitudes and practices in Obstructive Sleep Apnea of the faculty of dentistry of the Universidad Santo Tomás. Materials and methods: Descriptive observational cross-sectional study, with a sample of 53 dentists. The data collection was carried out through the CAP questionnaire, which had four sections, the first, composed of sociodemographic questions, the second is knowledge, made up of eleven questions; the third is attitudes, which has seven questions and the fourth is practices, which is made up of five questions. These sections were evaluated taking into account the score achieved by each participant. Results: Most of the participants are graduates of the Universidad Santo Tomás, 64.80% of them are women and the entire population has at least one postgraduate degree. In the measurement of knowledge, 79.25% of the participants obtained a good level. In the evaluation of attitudes 100% of the population has favorable attitudes; but in contrast to this, in the evaluation of practices 83.01% evidenced bad practices. Conclusions: The dentists have a good level of knowledge and favorable attitudes with regard to OSA, but they do not have the necessary practical skills, to be able to provide adequate treatment to patients suffering from the disease.