Nagesh Bhat

Barriers to Restorative Care as Perceived by Patients Attending Government Hospitals in Udaipur, Rajasthan

Objective: To determine the barriers to restorative care as perceived by dental patients attending government hospitals in Udaipur, Rajasthan. Material and Methods: A closed ended structured interview was conducted among 242 patients attending government hospitals of Udaipur city Rajasthan, India. The 11-item questionnaire was administered by a trained interviewer. The questionnaire reliability was assessed by using Test-Retest and the values of measured Kappa (k) was 0.86 and Weighted Kappa (kw) was 0.9. Internal consistency of questionnaires was assessed by applying Chronbachs-Alpha (α) and the value of α=0.78 was measured. The effect of socioeconomic status on beliefs and misinformation on restorative care, lack of knowledge on restorative care and past experience with dental treatment was assessed by applying one way ANOVA. P value of P≤0.5 was adopted. Results: Statistical association between past dental visits and beliefs and misinformation about restorative care was observed (P≤0.05). Past dental visit and past experience with dental treatment were significantly associated with each other (P≤0.05). Conclusion: Oral health care services have long been used as indicator of oral healthrelated behavior. It was concluded that associations between past dental visits and beliefs and misinformation about restorative care, past dental visit and past experience with dental treatment, association between misconception on restorative care and past dental visit are significant barriers to restorative care as perceived by dental patients.