Knowledge, practice and attitude of dental care waste management among private dental practitioners in Latur city

Introduction: Oral health is one of the important aspects of overall general health. The Oral health care is provided by the means of several modalities which leads to the generation of the biomedical waste. The management of the same is considered as an important aspect to avoid hazards of the same to the humans. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practices of dental care waste management among private dental practitioners in Latur city. Materials and Method: The present cross sectional study was conducted among 48 private practitioners practicing in Latur city. The prefabricated validity tested questionnaire was used for the present study. The results were formulated using chi-square tests. Results: Amongst the total respondents 77.08% were males and 22.92% were females while 27.08% were postgraduates and 72.92% were undergraduates. In the present study, only 20% of undergraduate practitioners knew about ten categories of biomedical waste mentioned by ministry of environment and forest. Only half i.e. 50% practitioners knew that contaminated sharps should be disposed in blue/white colored container. The total no. of 33.3% of dentists directly dispose infected needles in common bin. Conclusion: In the present study it has been observed that the most of the practitioners had acceptable knowledge about biomedical waste management but they fail to apply that in their practice. Hence legislations and implementation of various programs will certainly give better effect along with practitioner's positive attitude.