Knowledge and perception about light-curing units among dental students and interns: A cross-sectional study

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the knowledge and perception of dental students and interns about Light-Curing Units (LCUs), at Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University (PNU), Riyadh, KSA. Materials and Methods: The online questionnaire entailed 14 questions that were grouped under three sections: (1) Demographics, (2) LCUs and light-activated materials and (3) LCUs' maintenance, safety and disinfection. Chi- Square and ANOVA tests were used to compare the groups with a significance fixed at p =0.05. Results: A total of 108 dental students and interns participated in the survey. Regarding the overall knowledge among the groups, an insignificant statistical difference was found between the groups' knowledge of LCUs based on the level of education (P-value=0.231). As for the appropriate infection control methods, many have answered correctly (69.4%). Regarding the use of radiometers (50.9%) of the participants do not use radiometers in their daily practice, moreover (36.1%) were not familiar with the device. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that dental students and interns have very low overall knowledge regarding the light-curing units while demonstrating relatively high awareness toward maintenance and infection control protocols.