KNOWLEDGE OF PRIMARY HEALTH CARE DENTISTS ABOUT THE ORAL MANIFESTATIONS OF SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED INFECTIONS

Abstract

Oral manifestations can be the first sign and symptom resulting from systemic changes in sexually transmitted infections (STI). The aim of this study was therefore to assess the knowledge of primary health care dental surgeons (DS) about the oral manifestations of STI. A cross-sectional study was carried out using a questionnaire containing 15 objective questions with 42 dental surgeons in the municipality of Cascavel - PR. The questionnaire contained both personal questions and questions about the oral manifestations of sexually transmitted infections. In the questions about oral manifestations, they were asked about the characteristics of the fundamental lesions and their diagnostic capacity. Most of the dentists (71.4%) considered their knowledge of the subject to be average. When asked about the characteristics of a stain or macule, 90.4% answered the question correctly. The majority (92.8%) of DCs are aware of the main sexually transmitted infections manifested in the oral cavity. When it comes to patients with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or positive serum, 80.95% of the professionals are able to recognize the most frequent lesions. As for the personal questions, the majority had between 1 and 10 years of professional training (35.7%). In terms of specialty, 57.1% were general practitioners and 100% of those interviewed worked in the public health system. In addition, when asked about their conduct when examining a patient, most of the interviewees (40.5%) carried out an anamnesis, complete examination and biopsy, if necessary. It can be concluded that the majority of professionals had a good level of knowledge about STI oral lesions.