assessmentof attitudeandpracticeofgeneraldental practitioners dealing with temporomandibulardisorders and referral to physiotherapists

Introduction: this study was conducted to assess the attitude and practice of general dentalpractitioners when dealing with temporomandibular disorders (tmds) and referral tophysiotherapy.materials and methods: this comparative cross-sectional study was conducted with a studypopulation of general dental practitioners (gpds) of mirpur khas sindh. the total studypopulation estimated was about 55 gpds in this district. a convenient sampling technique wasused to recruit the samples. the study questionnaire was adopted from the different articlesand modified as per our socio-cultural needs. the reliability and validity of the questionnairewere calculated via chrome back alpha test by doing a pilot study on 25 participants and foundits validity as 80% and reliability as 75%. the questionnaire consisted of three sections ofgeneral questions regarding referral to physiotherapy, attitude, and practice of general dentalpractitioners in managing temporomandibular joint dysfunctions (tmd).results: the results showed that 57.1% of gpds believe that 53.1% of patients had neck painand poor posture. also, 81.6% of patients were referred to other healthcare providers, and only22.4% of patients were referred to a physiotherapist. about 28.6% of patients were referredto physiotherapists just because of neck pain, only 22.4% of patients with postural alterationswere referred to a physiotherapist. also, 53.1% of gpds had little confidence in assessing,therapeutic decision, and treatment outcomes of tmds. about 69.4% of gpds providedmedical management to the patients suffering from tmd, while 44.9% of gpds providedpharmacological management.conclusion: this study concluded that there is a need for tmd experts to deal with patientssuffering from tmds. general dental practitioners of mirpur khas, sindh know little aboutthe physiotherapeutic benefits for tmd. the majority of gpds have very little confidencein making a diagnosis and treating patients suffering from temporomandibular dysfunctions.