Knowledge and attitudes of dentists regarding the treatment of renal transplant patients

Objectives: the objective of this study was to assess the knowledge and attitude of dentists towards the dental treatment of renal transplant patients through questionnaires. Methods: a total of 416 dentists were interviewed and respon­ded 10 multiple-choice questions. Results: most participants (214/416; 51.4%) felt uncomfortable extracting teeth in renal transplant patients. The great majority (354/416, 85%) would prescribe prophylactic antibiotics before simple dental extraction, whereas 43% would prescribe antibiotics, even before non-invasive procedures. Conclusions: our data showed that the interviewed dentists are unfamiliar with the management of renal transplant patients and most of them would prescribe prophylactic antibiotics inappropriately, despite the inexistence of scientific evidence supporting this practice.