Knowledge, beliefs and attitude of health care practictioners concerning temporomandibular disorders

Details

Supervisors

Pitance, Laurent ; Roussel, Nathalie

Faculty

Faculté des sciences de la motricité

Degree label

Master [60] en kinésithérapie et réadaptation

Abstract

Introduction: Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) are a very controversial topic. Many studies assessed the knowledge, beliefs or attitude of Health care practitioners (HCP) concerning TMD patient using questionnaire or interview. Some of them suggested that knowledge, beliefs and attitude might influence the outcome of therapy. Methods: A systematic search was conducted in two databases. Inclusion criteria were: 1) Authors assessed the knowledge, beliefs or attitude of HCP or student concerning TMD; 2) Published in English, French or Dutch; 3) Results of questionnaire and qualitative research. Systematic review, case report, retrospective studies were excluded. Methodological qualities were assessed with two protocols. Results: The search strategy resulted in 600 articles. After two screening, 16 studies remained. One study was added manually. All studies had a level of evidence C. Conclusion: There was some confusion between literature and clinician’s practice concerning the management of TMD. It seemed to be some discrepancies amongst experts, general practitioners and specialists. Many practitioners didn’t seem confident in their knowledge, education, diagnose or treatment. Most of them based their management of TMD according to their own experience and financial issues. Clinicians tend to adopt too readily unfounded, obsolete or ineffective techniques without consulting experts’ recommendations. It showed an inefficient transfer of knowledge from researchers to clinicians. Keywords: Temporomandibular disorder, knowledge, attitude, beliefs, health care practitioners, students.