Publication
Oral Health Knowledge, Behaviour, and Access to Dental Care in Visually Impaired Individuals in Jordan: A Case-Control Study
Publisher:
Bentham Science Publishers Ltd.
Date:
16-02-2021
DOI:
10.2174/1874210602115010033
Abstract: The study aimed to assess oral health knowledge, dental behaviors, and use of dental services in in iduals with vision impairment in Jordan and identify barriers that affect their access to dental care in comparison with in iduals without vision impairment. A case-control study was carried out among 399 parents/caregivers of in iduals with vision impairment and in iduals without vision impairment, which involved the completion of a self-designed questionnaire. A closed-ended, validated self-designed questionnaire was distributed. The questionnaire included questions addressing participants’ oral health knowledge, oral health behaviour, dental service use and barriers to accessing dental care. Data were analyzed using SPSS ® software Version 22 with a 0.05 level of significance. A Chi-square test and contingency-table analysis were performed on the data. In iduals with vision impairment in Jordan were significantly less knowledgeable about different oral health aspects than sighted counterparts. In addition, in iduals with vision impairment used toothbrush, dental floss, and mouth rinse less frequently. They also visited dentists less regularly and mostly when only feeling pain. Limited access to dental services was observed among in iduals with vision impairment compared to sighted in iduals. Barriers, including embarrassment (22%), lack of knowledge of how to treat people with disabilities among dentists (12.5%), and inadequate facilities (13.7%), were significantly (P .05) more likely to be reported by visually impaired participants than the controls. Visually impaired in iduals and their families should be given appropriate education about oral health care by oral health professionals to reduce the risk of having dental problems and oral disease and enhance their quality of life. Furthermore, recognizing the challenges in accessing dental care for this population could help oral health professionals to minimize these difficulties.