Investigating physicians’ and patients’ oral health knowledge: a field needed interdisciplinary policy making approach

Abstract

ABSTRACT Oral health is not only limited to healthy teeth and gums, but it is really interconnected to the general health. Oral cavity frequently reveals the existence of eating disorders, blood diseases, endocrine and metabolic disorders, which may be the result of microbial infections, immune disorders and medications. This study aimed to evaluate the knowledge and habits of patients and physicians concerning oral care and moreover to compare their knowledge about the relationship between oral and general health. A questionnaire was developed by the authors and distributed to all 94 primary care general practitioners who worked at public health units in Cyprus and 550 dental patients. A two sided p-value equal to 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The SPSS program, version 19.0 was used for statistical analysis. The mean score of dental patients’ knowledge regarding oral health was found poor, just 3.7/10, while physicians score was higher 6.4/10 (p < 0.001). More than half of patients (55.5%) and 29.5% of physicians reported that the reason for their last visit to a dentist was an emergency situation. Dental patients with higher educational level and patients who have been informed about the significance of oral health by their doctors visited 4.4 and 1.9 times more often dentist within 6 or 12 months compared to those with low educational level (p < 0.001/p = 0.005 respectively). Patients’ and physicians’ level of knowledge, behavior and perceptions about oral health are not satisfactory and these results underline the necessity for improving relevant health promotion programs.