Byrappagari Divesh, Jung Youngjin, Chen Kelvin
Division of Dental Public Health and Outreach, University of Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry, Detroit, Michigan.
Class of 2018, Division of Dental Public Health and Outreach, University of Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry, Detroit, Michigan.
Spec Care Dentist. 2018 Sep;38(5):281-290. doi: 10.1111/scd.12303. Epub 2018 Jun 26.
The aim of this study to examine the level of access to dental care in Michigan for individuals with DD and explore the dentists' practices, attitudes, and perceived barriers to providing care to this vulnerable population.
A survey was mailed to a random sample of 1250 general dental practitioners with an active license in the State of Michigan. The survey included questions related to dentists' demographic information, opinion about willingness, barriers, and training needs associated with delivering care to children and adults with developmental disabilities. Descriptive statistics were computed and chi-squared tests and logistic regression models analyzed the association between predictor and key outcome variables. Results show that most dentists treated individuals with developmental disabilities (80.3%). Respondents who indicated that they currently do not treat these patients identified behavior management of patient (67.9%), inadequate training and experiences (52.4%) and severity of patient's condition (41.7%) as the most common reasons for not providing care to individuals with developmental disabilities.
A majority of Michigan general dentists treat patients with developmental disabilities. Addressing barriers like training and improved reimbursements might help in increasing the number of dentists willing to treat patients with developmental disabilities.
本研究旨在调查密歇根州发育障碍患者获得牙科护理的水平，并探讨牙医对这一弱势群体提供护理的执业情况、态度及感知到的障碍。
向密歇根州1250名持有有效执照的普通牙科医生随机抽取样本邮寄调查问卷。该调查包括与牙医人口统计学信息、对为发育障碍儿童和成人提供护理的意愿、障碍及培训需求的看法相关的问题。计算描述性统计量，并通过卡方检验和逻辑回归模型分析预测变量与关键结果变量之间的关联。结果显示，大多数牙医治疗发育障碍患者（80.3%）。表示目前不治疗这些患者的受访者将患者行为管理（67.9%）、培训和经验不足（52.4%）以及患者病情严重程度（41.7%）视为不为发育障碍患者提供护理的最常见原因。
密歇根州大多数普通牙医治疗发育障碍患者。解决培训和改善报销等障碍可能有助于增加愿意治疗发育障碍患者的牙医数量。
