Faculty of Dentistry, University of British Columbia, 2199 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z3, Canada.
J Community Health. 2012 Feb;37(1):32-9. doi: 10.1007/s10900-011-9412-4.
The objective of this study was to explore access to dental care for low-income communities from the perspectives of low-income people, dentists and related health and social service-providers. The case study included 60 interviews involving, low-income adults (N = 41), dentists (N = 6) and health and social service-providers (N = 13). The analysis explores perceptions of need, evidence of unmet needs, and three dimensions of access--affordability, availability and acceptability. The study describes the sometimes poor fit between private dental practice and the public oral health needs of low-income individuals. Dentists and low-income patients alike explained how the current model of private dental practice and fee-for-service payments do not work well because of patients' concerns about the cost of dentistry, dentists' reluctance to treat this population, and the cultural incompatibility of most private practices to the needs of low-income communities. There is a poor fit between private practice dentistry, public dental benefits and the oral health needs of low-income communities, and other responses are needed to address the multiple dimensions of access to dentistry, including community dental clinics sensitive to the special needs of low-income people.
本研究旨在从低收入人群、牙医以及相关卫生和社会服务提供者的角度探讨低收入社区获得牙科护理的途径。该案例研究包括 60 次访谈，涉及低收入成年人（N=41）、牙医（N=6）和卫生及社会服务提供者（N=13）。分析探讨了对需求的认知、未满足需求的证据，以及三个方面的可及性：负担能力、可及性和可接受性。该研究描述了私人牙科实践与低收入个人的公共口腔健康需求之间有时存在的不匹配。牙医和低收入患者都解释了为什么当前的私人牙科实践模式和按服务收费的支付方式不太有效，原因是患者担心牙科费用、牙医不愿治疗这一人群，以及大多数私人诊所与低收入社区的需求在文化上不兼容。私人执业牙科、公共牙科福利和低收入社区的口腔健康需求之间存在不匹配，需要采取其他措施来解决牙科服务可及性的多个方面，包括对低收入人群特殊需求敏感的社区牙科诊所。
