Dental Hygiene Students' Perception of Children's Access to Dental Care

Abstract

According to a recent study, children lose more than 40 million hours of school each year because of dental pain and dental related illness. Children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds suffer 12 times more “restricted activity days” than children from wealthier families. The most common chronic childhood disease is dental caries, which is 5 times more common than hay fever. To determine the senior dental hygiene students' perception of access to dental care for children, a survey was administered at the end of the Community Health course, spring semester 2005 (n=27, 100% response rate). The survey of 33 quantitative questions (5-point Likert-type scale) was downloaded on the course's Blackboard site in the Assessment section. The mean for each question was automatically calculated by Blackboard. Ninety-four percent of the students expressed that access to dental care was a problem in the United States. Furthermore, even with 3 local dental schools, 94% of the students felt that access to dental care was a local problem. When students were asked their perception of the likelihood that a child would be taken to a dentist if s/he “broke a tooth,” 49% reported that the child would “most probably” seek dental care. Forty-six percent responded that they thought the child would “probably” seek dental care. Conversely, 3% reported that they were “not certain” if the child would seek dental care. When asked their perception of the likelihood that a child would seek dental care for a toothache, only 29% indicated “most probably.” However, 63% indicated the child would “probably” seek dental care. Seven percent of the students indicated that they were “not certain” if a child would seek dental care for a toothache.

The survey results suggest that the majority of the students perceived that access to dental care was a problem in the United States and locally. Additionally, the students were certain that children would receive palliative care for dental ailments. Future studies would be encouraged to determine the students' perceptions of the basis and solutions to the access to dental care dilemma.