Dentists' Satisfaction With the Dental Amalgam Phase Down Training Programme

Dental amalgam phase down (DAPD) has ushered in a paradigm shift towards the use of adhesive alternative restorative dental materials and dental caries prevention. The emergence of a new restorative practice model has created a gap among some dentists, highlighting the need to reorient their knowledge and skills.

The objectives of this study were to assess dentists' level of satisfaction with a DAPD training programme and identify associations between sociodemographic characteristics and satisfaction levels, in Kenya, a low- and middle-income country.  Materials and methods: A three-hour online training programme was developed, and a sample of n=260 dentists was targeted. Data were collected on socio-demographic characteristics and from thirteen 5-Likert scale questions that evaluated participants' satisfaction with the aims, usefulness, methodology, content and duration of the course. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, with frequencies and proportions for categorical sociodemographic information and level of satisfaction scores, while chi-square and multivariate logistic regression were used to analyse the influence of sociodemographic information on the level of satisfaction with the statistical significance level set at p=0.05.

A total of 216 (83.1%) dentists participated and completed the online questionnaire at the end of training, which represents 28.8% of the dentists whose contact information was retrievable as of 2022. Of these, 141 (65.3%) were men, while 130 (60.2%) were aged between 20 and 40 years. The majority obtained their primary degree in Kenya (190; 88.0%) and practised restorative dentistry (187; 86.6%). The dentists rated the training highly. The scores ranged from 3.74 to 4.63 with an average score of 4.43 on the 5-point Likert scale, indicating that they were highly satisfied with the DAPD training programme. Multivariate logistic regression showed that age, gender, year of qualification, county of workstation and practising restorative dentistry were positively associated with satisfaction. Dentists who practised in the cities were more than six times likely to be satisfied (aOR 6.1; CI: [1.3-8.554], p=0.012). Gender was statistically significant, such that male dentists were more satisfied (aOR 3.1; CI: [1.6-3.65], p=0.019).

The majority of the dentists were satisfied with the content of the training modules, mode of delivery and its usefulness in phasing down the use of dental amalgam. The strongest association was observed between practising restorative dentistry and satisfaction. Longitudinal training approaches to evaluate how satisfaction with training translates into changes in clinical practice would provide insight.