Oral health care practice and socio-demographic findings among the physicians in Ilorin, Nigeria.

BACKGROUND

In most developing countries, physicians attend to patients with oral health problems more than dentists usually because physicians are easily available. The aim of this study is to assess the level of practice of oral health care by physicians and make recommendations on how oral health care practice can be improved among the physicians.

METHODS

This is a descriptive cross-sectional study carried out among 173 physicians who were randomly selected using their various health facilities. The study was carried out in Ilorin, the capital of Kwara State, Nigeria, over a period of six months. A well-structured questionnaire served as data collection tool while EPI-INFO version 6 software packages were used for analyzing data after being coded.

RESULTS

There was a high level (74.1%) of practice of oral health care among the physicians and the major reasons for this were limited number of qualified dentists in the study area as well as lack of awareness by the patients concerning the treatment of oral health problems by dentists. Toothache and trauma were the most (68.2%) and least (2.3%) prevalent oral health problems respectively seen by physicians in this study. Antibiotics and analgesics were the medications used by the majority (58.1%) of the physicians to treat oral health problems. Almost all (97.7%) the respondents referred oral health problems to dentists while only 2.3% claimed never referred patients to a dentist.

CONCLUSION

The available dental services in the study area cannot meet the oral health needs of the populace considering the fact that there are fewer dentists than physicians. Since this study showed a high level of practice of oral health care among the physicians, it is therefore necessary to include dentistry in the curricular of all medical schools in Nigeria and such curricula need to place more emphasis on promotive and preventive aspects of oral health as well as community participation.