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- Title
Dental Anxiety and Fear; Other Barriers to Utilization of Oral Healthcare Services and Oral Health Care Seeking Behaviour among Adults Attending Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia.
- Authors
S., Karunakaran; N., Abd Rahman; M., Mohd Adnan
- Abstract
Introduction: Malaysian adults have been exposed to school dental services since childhood. However, upon leaving school, their utilisation of oral healthcare services among them is still reported to be poor. This study aims to determine the prevalence of dental anxiety and fear (DAF), other barriers to utilisation of oral healthcare services as well as comparing the oral health care seeking behaviour (OHCSB) score between adults who have DAF and other barriers to the utilisation of services. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among 209 adults attending the medical outpatient clinic, Hospital USM from April-May 2023. A validated Malay version selfadministered questionnaire was used to obtain their sociodemographic profiles, DAF, other barriers to utilisation and OHCSB score. Data was analysed using SPSS version 26. Results: Of 209 adults, mostly were Malay (96.2 %), female (53.1 %), mean age of 37.3 ± 10.83 years old and categorised under the B40 group (54.5 %). The prevalence of DAF was 30.6 % (95 % CI: 24.3 %, 36.9 %). The most common barriers were perceived of not having dental problem (52.2 %), long waiting time (57.4 %), and busy work schedules (53.1 %). Their mean OHCSB score was 9.62 ± 1.067 out of 12. The mean OHCSB score was significantly lower in those who did have DAF (9.03 ± 1.502) than those who did not (9.88 ± 1.679; p = 0.001), while the scores were significantly higher among those who perceived of not having any dental problem (9.89 ± 1.540) than those who perceived of having it (9.32 ± 1.762; p = 0.017) and those with no self-transport (10.73 ± 1.223) compared to those with self-transport (9.32 ± 1.762; p = 0.007). Conclusion: The prevalence of DAF was high. The OHCSB score was significantly lower with the presence of DAF and higher among those perceived to not having any dental problem as well as no self-transportation. Hence, strategies to manage DAF and identifying barriers are crucial to improve the OHCSB towards optimizing the utilization of dental services.
- Subjects
FEAR of dentists; MEDICAL care; DENTAL care utilization; ADULTS; DENTAL care; WORKING hours
- Publication
Malaysian Dental Journal, 2023, Vol 46, Issue 2, p42
- ISSN
0126-8023
- Publication type
Abstract