| Summary: | Aim: The aim of the study was to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices among Indian dental practitioners regarding the professional indemnity insurance (PII) and to assess the perceived need among these practitioners regarding such insurance cover based on their demographic and professional characteristics. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in March 2015. A total of 610 dental practitioners were selected as the study population. List of registered dental practitioners was obtained from state dental councils and a few dental practitioners were selected randomly. These practitioners were then interviewed in person and also the questionnaire was put up on web for distant online interviews. The widely used questionnaire by “GLOBAL CHILD DENTAL FUND” for PII was obtained from its website (www.gcdfund.org) and was modified according to the results of a pilot study. Results: It was seen that knowledge and awareness among senior practitioners were higher and so were perceived need. More than 50% of the study population was not aware of dental indemnity insurance and did not know about the procedure to apply for it. Twenty percent of dentists felt that it was not mandatory for each and every dentist, whereas 9.5% felt that there was no need dental indemnity insurance. Conclusion: Most of the oral health practitioners do not have dental indemnity insurance. Hence, there is a need of spreading knowledge and awareness to dental practitioners about the uses and benefit of dental indemnity insurance. Provision of PII for dental practitioners is a welcome step on the part of insurance companies. Surely, it gives a sigh of relief to dental practitioners and establishments against the growing menace of compensation claims from patients.
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