Oral Health Problems among Adult Patients at Commune Health Centres in Central Vietnam: Prevalence and Care Seeking Behaviour

Introduction:

The burden of oral disease is an excessive issue of Vietnamese population while the accessibility of oral health services are restricted. This study were to identify the prevalence of dental caries and the oral health seeking behavior in response to oral health symptoms among adults presenting at commune health centers.

Materials and Methods:

A cross-sectional study was used at three commune health centres in Thua Thien Hue province, Vietnam. During the four-week study period, all patients older than 18 year old who presented to the commune health centres for either general or oral health concerns were asked to complete a social survey, and received dental examinations.

Results and Discussion:

There was a high proportion (92.2%) of adults had caries experience with a mean DMFT of 6.40±5.57 per person (2.98±3.04 decay teeth, 3.09±4.33 missing teeth, 0.33±0.88 filled teeth). 82.5% of adults had at least one oral health symptom in the previous year with several social and psychological impacts on quality of life. 42.5% used health facilities, 27.3% used self-medication, while 15.5% sought no treatment at all. Education level, usual source of dental care, and perceived importance of oral health were significantly associated with the use of oral health care services.

Conclusions:

Despite of the high use of health facilities, the high prevalence and severity of oral problems has occurred. This draws attention to large disease burden and very negligible oral health care received at such primary care settings.