Pakistan Journal of Medical Research (Sep 2020)
Oral Hygiene Practices and Reasons for Delaying Dental Treatment Among Patients Attending A Public-Sector Tertiary-Care Dental Hospital
Abstract
Background: Good oral hygiene and regular dental visits are recommended to prevent and manage oral health problems. Lack of utilization of dental services and barriers in seeking regular dental care can lead to delaying in treatment of dental diseases, leading tooth loss. Objective: To determine the oral hygiene practices and reasons for late seeking of dental treatment among the patients visiting public tertiary care hospital. Study design, settings and duration: A Cross sectional study was conducted at oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Department, PMC Dental Institute, Faisalabad Medical University/Allied Hospital, Faisalabad from August 2019 to October 2019. Methodology: The questions were divided into three sections; demographic detail, regarding oral hygiene practices and reasons for delay in dental treatment. Results: Out of 400 participants 376 (94%) questionnaire were collected and analyzed. Male to female ratio was 1:2 whereas, mean age of the participants ranged from 16-80 year, 115 participants (32.4%) had metric level education, whereas 122 (32.4%) participants had monthly income <10,000. Most of the participants practiced good oral hygiene measures by once or twice/day brushing with toothbrush or miswak. Perception of giving less priority to dental was the most common reason. Other reasons were lack of time, high treatment cost and non-availability of hygienically good dental facilities especially in government setups. Conclusion: The study concluded that a good percentage of population was aware of oral hygiene measures and was practicing them in their routine life. However, lack of priority to dental care was the main reason for delay in seeking dental care. Mostly females, patients with low socioeconomic conditions and less education were ignoring dental care unless develop any dental problem.
