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Access Barriers to Dental Health Care in Children with Disability. A Questionnaire Study of Parents
Author(s) -
Gerreth Karolina,
BorysewiczLewicka Maria
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of applied research in intellectual disabilities
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.056
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1468-3148
pISSN - 1360-2322
DOI - 10.1111/jar.12164
Subject(s) - dental care , medicine , family medicine , special needs , health care , nursing , psychology , psychiatry , economics , economic growth
Background A patient's with disability everyday life is rife with many limitations such as architectural, transport, information as well as medical, psychological, legal, economic and social barriers. The aim of this study was to evaluate access to dental health care of special‐care schoolchildren with intellectual disability on the basis of their parents’ opinion. Material and method A questionnaire survey was carried out among 264 parents/caregivers of children from eight special‐care schools in Poznan (Poland). Close‐ended questions concerned children's barriers in access to dental care and parents’ satisfaction with their children's dental care. Results Only 31.8% parents/caregivers did not have any problems with access to dental care and the most commonly reported barrier to obtaining dental care was protracted waiting time for a visit (36.7%). Most commonly, children were treated in dental surgery conditions (90.1%). Only 42.1% respondents were satisfied with their children's dental care. Conclusions The research revealed that there is a need to improve the access of children with disability to dental care. Hence, it seems to be beneficial to set up specialist dental surgeries in special‐care schools which would improve the access of children with disability to prophylaxis as well as dental treatment.