Prevalence of Rubber Dam Usage Among Dental Practitioners and Final Year Students in Tirgu Mures: A Questionnaire Survey

The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of rubber dam usage among endodontists, other specialized practitioners, general practitioners and undergraduate final year students in Tirgu-Mures, Romania.
Material and method: A questionnaire was distributed among 250 subjects. Final year students and dentists were surveyed in relation to their prevalence of rubber dam usage.
Results: Overall response rate was 72,4. While 84,07% of the subjects knew about the advantages, only 49,72% used it during their practice, mostly endodontist (90%) and other specialized practitioners (53,84%). The use of this system on pediatric patients was lower compared to adult patients. The frequency of the rubber dam usage during endodontic treatment was higher (71,11 %) compared to dental restorations (35,55%), and 84,49% of the subjects were are willing to gain further knowledge about this system.
Conclusions: The results were similar to other reports originally from Eastern-European countries. The low percentage of the rubber dam usage presents quality issues, safety and medico-legal concerns for both the patient and the dentist. Greater emphasis should be placed on the advantages of rubber dam. Perception of final year dental students needs to be improved and continuing dental education for practitioners should be necessary to update their knowledge.