The Acceptance of Rubber Dam Isolation by Patients undergoing Endodontic Treatment and Its Feedback: A Questionnaire Based Survey

Objective: The study was done to evaluate the average time taken by the operators to apply the rubber dam, procedure time and the acceptability or rejection of placement of rubber dam by the patients during endodontic treatment procedures.

Design: The study was carried out on 450 patients requiring endodontic treatment reported at department during the time interval of May, 2021 to August, 2021. Out of 450 patients, 180 patients were randomly selected for the study by lottery method. All the endodontic procedures were performed under rubber dam isolation and rubber dam application time and time for isolation was determined. Further, a questionnaire survey was performed to evaluate the patient’s acceptance or rejection of procedures rubber dam and various reasons for rejection.

Results: The highest number of respondents belonged to 21-30 years of age group i.e. 26.6% followed by 31-40 years i.e. 26.11%. Average rubber dam application time and procedure time were estimated as 4.04 and 44.07 minutes respectively. More than 90 % of the participants were willing to accept the procedure under rubber dam isolation in future. However, on contrary, only 9.44 % of the participants rejected the procedure under rubber dam isolation and the most common reasons for rejection were uneasiness felt by the patient and difficulty in breathing.

Conclusions: The acceptability of rubber dam isolation while performing endodontic procedures/ treatments was quite significant among the patients. Very few patients had allergy to the latex material of rubber dam sheets and respiratory disorders.