[Knowledge of dental hygienists about cardiovascular diseases]

Cardiovascular diseases are among the most common disorders in the Netherlands. Dental hygienists will often be confronted with patients who suffer from these diseases. The aim of this research was to explore the current knowledge of dental hygienists in the Netherlands about cardiovascular diseases. 979 dental hygienists in the Netherlands received a written questionnaire by post. The results were tested with the Mann-Whitney tests, the chi-square tests and the Kruskal-Wallis-H tests. A total of 150 dental hygienists participated in the study. Of the 12 case-oriented statements, the dental hygienists answered just over half of the questions correctly (on average 6.59 of 12). Dental hygienists who rated their knowledge about cardiovascular diseases high gave significantly more correct answers (average 7.04 of 12) than dental hygienists who rated themselves lower (average 6.16 of 12). This suggests that dental hygienists' knowledge of cardiovascular diseases, particularly concerning blood clotting, could be improved.