Cardiopulmonary resuscitation(CPR) knowledge and experience among dentists in Turkey.

Aim: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation(CPR) is the main skill that all health care professionals are advised. Dentists, as a health professional, should be able to recognize cardiac arrest and perform effective CPR. Aim of the study to evaluate the knowledge and experiences of general dentists in Turkey related CPR.

Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 152 general dentists working in Turkey. Data were obtained through an electronic survey including knowledge and attitude of dentists on CPR based on the 2015 American Heart Association guidelines update. Data were evaluated using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS version 22).

Results: Totally 152 general dentists took part in the present study giving a response rate of 76 %. While 44% of the dentists answered more than half of the questions, there were no dentists who answered all the questions correctly. While 1.3% of dentists stated that they encountered cardiac arrest, 34.2% stated that they could evaluate the cardiac arrest case. While 73.7% of dentists previously had received cardiopulmonary resuscitation training, only 6.6% of them considered themselves adequate for CPR administration. The number of people aware of the 2015 CPR guide is 11.8 %. While 88.2 % of dentists stated that they should know CPR as a dentist, 90.8% want to get CPR training.

Conclusion: This study showed that the majority of general dentists in Turkey had insufficient knowledge of CPR. So, training of CPR should be regularly provided to general dentists in the country.