Comparison of Knowledge and Attitude of General Dentists and Dental Students in Qom City Regarding Professional Ethics in ۲۰۲۲-۲۰۲۳

Introduction: Undoubtedly, professional ethics is one of the challenging topics in the field of medicine, and almost all dentists face ethical issues daily in their work. The present study was conducted to investigate and compare the knowledge and attitude of general dentists and dental students in Qom City regarding professional ethics. Methods: In this descriptive-analytical study, ۱۴۰ dental students and general dentists in Qom City (۷۰ dental students and ۷۰ general dentists) were selected through simple random sampling (students) and multi-stage sampling (general dentists). Data were collected using a questionnaire developed in ۲۰۱۲ by Kermpouryan and colleagues, which included ۳۶ attitude questions and ۱۸ knowledge questions. The data were analyzed using independent t-tests, Pearson correlation, and regression in SPSS software.  Findings: The results of the present study showed that the mean attitude score of dentists (۷۵.۰۱ ± ۷.۵۳) was significantly higher than that of students (۷۱.۲۵ ± ۷.۶۷). The mean knowledge score of dentists (۵۹.۶۰ ± ۱۵.۸۲) was also higher than that of students (۵۰.۱۵ ± ۱۲.۶۸). A direct and significant correlation was found between attitude and knowledge scores (P=۰.۶۱۸, r=۰.۶۱۸). Conclusion: The results of our study showed that individuals' attitude scores have a direct relationship with their level of knowledge. It seems that according to the findings of this study, in-service retraining classes on professional ethics would be beneficial for students and graduates.