Afsheen Ali, Ayesha Aslam, Bushra Rehman, Anum Tariq.
Rubber dam use by general dental practitioners - prevalence and obstacles to its use.
Pak Oral Dental J Jan ;36(3):468-71.

Optimal dental practice requires the use of isolation techniques. One such well-established method is the use of a rubber dam. It was first introduced in 1860s by S.C. Barnum and has since been used in dental practices. The use of rubber dam has a number of advantages. It provides the clinician with a dry operative field, enhances visibility, minimizes patient conversation, thereby increasing the overall efficacy of the treatment. Despite its well-known advantages, rubber dam is not commonly used during routine dental practice. Use of rubber dam is one of the most widely advocated techniques and yet equally ignored by dental practitioners. The aim of this study is to evaluate the attitudes of local general dentists towards rubber dam usage, its prevalence and to highlight any obstacles to the routine use of rubber dam. A self-administered close-ended questionnaire was used as the data collection tool. The questionnaire was distributed to 150 dentists involved in general dental practice in Rawalpindi/ Islamabad, with a response rate of 93%. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 21. Descriptive statistics were calculated. Approximately 92% of the general dentists claimed that they knew the use of rubber dam but 77% stated that it was not available at their practice. Question pertaining to the frequency of rubber dam usage revealed that 52.1% “never” use it while another 20% used it “hardly ever”, and only around 28% dentists used it to a varying extent. High patient load (49%) was considered the biggest obstacle to the use of rubber dam followed by time required to place it (16%) and cost (15%).

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