White spot lesion management: Knowledge and practices during fixed orthodontic treatment among Saudi dentist -A...

White spot lesions (WSLs), a consequence of orthodontic treatment, have a detrimental effect on the aesthetic result of orthodontic treatment. Therefore, it is of interest to assess knowledge and practice levels of dentists practicing orthodontics regarding the prevention and treatment of WSLs in Saudi Arabia. Hence, this cross-sectional observational study included 188 orthodontic practitioners in Saudi Arabia with at least one year of experience utilizing structured electronic questionnaire of 19 closed-ended items. Knowledge assessment revealed that 133 (70.7%) had high scores and 55 (29.3%) had intermediate scores while in practice assessment, 154 (81.9%) achieved high scores, while 34 (18.1%) had intermediate scores with most participants having 1-4 years of experience demonstrated high knowledge (63.4%) and practice (76.8%) levels. Thus, we show that the dentist practicing orthodontics showed high knowledge and practice regarding the prevention and treatment of white spot lesions with years of experience were significantly associated with the levels of knowledge.