BACKGROUND Evidence concerning periodontal practice in Eastern European countries is scarce. The aim of the present study was to investigate periodontal risk knowledge, patient management and self-perceived confidence among General Dentists (GDs) from five Eastern European regarding their provision of periodontal care. METHODS GDs from Belarus, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova and Romania participated in a questionnaire survey. Power calculations were used to identify the sample size for each country. The structured questionnaire included several domains of inquiry. The socio-demographic domain inquired about dentist's age, gender and years of clinical experience. The dental practice domain inquired about practice location, practising or not practising in a group practice and having or not having a periodontist or a dental hygienist in the practice. The distributions of answers across-countries were compared employing one way ANOVA (comparison of means) or Chi square test (comparison of proportions). For each country, the predictors of the study outcomes: a summative knowledge score for periodontal risks and dentist's confidence level were identified employing either linear or logistic multiple regression models. RESULTS The sample comprised 390 Belarussian, 488 Lithuanian, 349 Macedonian, 316 Moldovan, and 401 Romanian GDs. The majority of GDs (~ 80%) practiced in urban areas. Age and gender distributions differed significantly among countries. Significant across-country differences were found regarding working/not working in a group practice, having/not having access to a periodontist/dental hygienist and in proportions of patients receiving periodontal treatments or being referred to specialists. None of Macedonian patients nor the majority of Moldovan patients (78%) were referred to periodontists. There were also significant across-country differences in diagnosis, patient management and periodontal knowledge. Only in the Lithuanian cohort were dentists' confidence levels associated significantly with their knowledge. In all countries, taking a medical history was a consistent and significant predictor of having higher periodontal knowledge score. Except in Belarus, periodontal risk assessment was a significantly consistent predictor of certainty levels associated with the provision of periodontal treatments. CONCLUSIONS There were substantial differences among GDs in the five countries regarding diagnosis, dentist's confidence and management of periodontal patients.

中文翻译：

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白俄罗斯，立陶宛，马其顿，摩尔多瓦和罗马尼亚的普通牙医对牙周患者的知识，牙医信心和管理。

背景技术关于东欧国家中的牙周实践的证据很少。本研究的目的是调查五名东欧的普通牙医（GDs）在提供牙周护理方面的牙周风险知识，患者管理和自我感知的信心。方法来自白俄罗斯，立陶宛，马其顿，摩尔多瓦和罗马尼亚的GD参加了问卷调查。功效计算用于确定每个国家的样本量。结构化的问卷包括几个查询领域。社会人口学领域询问牙医的年龄，性别和临床经验年限。牙科执业领域询问了执业地点，在小组练习中练习或不练习，以及在练习中是否有牙周病医生或牙科保健师。使用单因素方差分析（均值比较）或卡方检验（比例比较）比较了国家/地区答案的分布。对于每个国家，研究结果的预测指标：采用线性或逻辑多元回归模型确定牙周风险的总知识得分和牙医的置信度。结果样本包括390个白俄罗斯，488个立陶宛，349个马其顿，316个摩尔多瓦和401个罗马尼亚GD。大多数GD（〜80％）在城市地区进行。各国之间的年龄和性别分布差异很大。发现在小组练习中，工作/不工作之间存在重大的跨国差异，有/没有接触牙周病/牙科保健员的比例，以及接受牙周治疗或转诊给专家的患者比例。马其顿患者或摩尔多瓦患者中的大多数（78％）都没有提到牙周病医生。整个国家在诊断，患者管理和牙周知识方面也存在显着差异。仅在立陶宛队列中，牙医的信心水平与其知识水平显着相关。在所有国家/地区，有病史是牙周知识得分较高的一致且重要的预测指标。除白俄罗斯外，牙周风险评估是与提供牙周治疗相关的确定性水平的显着一致性预测指标。