Abstract

Introduction: Dental practitioners and auxiliary are at increased risk of acquiring bloodborne infections through needle stick and sharp injury. Awareness regarding prevention of needle stick injury (NSIs) and measures for post exposure prophylaxis can greatly reduce the risk of spread of bloodborne communicable diseases among dental healthcare workers.
Objective: The present study aims to evaluate the knowledge and attitude of dental professionals, students and auxiliary towards needle stick and sharp injury.
Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey was carried out among 200 dental practitioners, students and auxiliary staff. Final data was analyzed using SPSS version 23.0.
Result: The result revealed that 97% of the participants had an understanding of NSI and the risks associated with it and about 87.5% participants were found to be vaccinated against Hepatitis B.
In addition to that, 72% of dental healthcare workers especially the auxiliary staff (96.3%) had experienced needle stick injury and 97% of the subjects were found to have a habit of recapping the needle after use.
Conclusion: The knowledge of dental practitioners especially the auxiliary staff concerning needle stick injury was found to be inadequate. More awareness should be raised regarding NSIs for the dental healthcare workers and practicing of universal guidelines must be emphasized greatly.

Key words: Needle stick injury and sharp injuries