Faculty of Dentistry, Department of Preventive Dentistry, College of Medicine University of Nigeria Enugu, Enugu, Nigeria.
Health Policy Research Group, Department of Pharmaco-therapeutics, College of Medicine, University of Nigeria, Enugu, Nigeria.
PLoS One. 2021 Feb 1;16(2):e0246164. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0246164. eCollection 2021.
This study investigates the oral health-seeking behaviour of households and its influence on demand for dental caries treatment services in Enugu state Nigeria.
A quantitative descriptive cross-sectional study was used to explore the oral health seeking pattern of 378 urban and 348 rural household respondents in Enugu state Nigeria. The study explored dental caries treatment-seeking, oral health behavior of respondents using the three dynamics of the Andersen and Newman health utilization model; predisposing, enabling and need factors.
Recommendations from community members (48.9%), severity of disease (22.1%), and cost of treatment (19.4%) all influenced where oral healthcare was first sought. Gender and type of occupation, influenced positive oral health-seeking behavior (p<0.05). The least poor socioeconomic status (SES) group, sought dental treatment in the private dental clinics, while the very poor and most poor SES groups used traditional healers, home treatment and patent medicine dealers more. Dental fillings and extractions were generally the most accessed treatment options for dental caries. The tendency for all the SES groups (especially the least poor), to choose tooth extraction more as a treatment option for dental caries was influenced by the oral health awareness level of respondents and the cost of dental fillings. (p<0.05).
The findings suggest that interventions to create increased oral health awareness targeted at education on preventive strategies, appropriate time and place to seek oral health care and dental caries treatment, as well devising and implementing health financing options such as dental insurance would enable individuals to seek appropriate treatment for dental caries on time. In addition, it will reduce the proportion of people visiting unorthodox healthcare providers for their oral health problems or choosing cheaper but inappropriate treatment options.
本研究调查了尼日利亚埃努古州家庭的口腔健康寻求行为及其对龋齿治疗服务需求的影响。
本研究采用定量描述性横断面研究方法，探讨了尼日利亚埃努古州 378 名城市和 348 名农村家庭受访者的口腔健康寻求模式。该研究利用安德森和纽曼健康利用模型的三个动态（倾向因素、促成因素和需求因素），探讨了受访者的龋齿治疗寻求和口腔健康行为。
社区成员的建议（48.9%）、疾病的严重程度（22.1%）和治疗费用（19.4%）都影响了口腔保健的首选地点。性别和职业类型影响了积极的口腔健康寻求行为（p<0.05）。最贫穷的社会经济地位（SES）群体在私人牙科诊所接受牙科治疗，而非常贫穷和最贫穷的 SES 群体更多地使用传统治疗师、家庭治疗和专利药品经销商。补牙和拔牙通常是治疗龋齿最常用的治疗方法。所有 SES 群体（尤其是最贫穷的 SES 群体）更倾向于选择拔牙作为治疗龋齿的方法，这受到受访者口腔健康意识水平和补牙费用的影响（p<0.05）。
研究结果表明，干预措施旨在提高口腔健康意识，针对预防策略进行教育，选择适当的时间和地点寻求口腔保健和龋齿治疗，并制定和实施健康融资选择，如牙科保险，将使个人能够及时寻求适当的龋齿治疗。此外，这将减少因口腔健康问题而寻求非正统医疗提供者治疗或选择更便宜但不合适的治疗方案的人数。
