Oral health status and oral health care seeking behaviour of a rural community in Kenya

Abstract

Oral health forms an integral part of general health. Oral health problems affect all age groups and are universal in prevalence. his necessary to have current information that can be used in planning and implementing oral health care services so as to ensure the services are available to all citizens. The purpose of this study was to generate some of this information by determining the oral health status, oral hygiene practices and oral health care seeking behaviour of a rural community in Kenya. This was a descriptive cross-sectional study carried out in 370 households in two locations of Kiambu district Data were collected in the year 2000. Structured questionnaires and oral examinations were used to collect the required information. Oral health status was determined by the need for professional oral health care. Households that bad members in need of care were deemed to have poor oral health status. Only 29.70/0 households had all members with good oral health status and were not in need of oral health care. The remaining 70.3% households had at least one member in need of attention at an oral health care facility. Only 20.0010 of the households had all household members practicing good oral hygiene habits. Dental plaque was recorded in over 60% of the households although tooth brushing was practiced daily in 99% of the households. Age was noted to be a significant factor in determining oral hygiene practices with children and the elderly household members more likely to have poor practices. In 50% of the households, at least one member complained of having suffered from an oral health problem in the preceding year. The initial action taken in 61% of the households was self-treatment primarily for pain relief In households with complaints, 45% of them had members seek care at an oral health care facility. Toothache was the most common complaint accounting for almost 80010 of the problems suffered and the most common procedure performed at the facilities were tooth extractions. In households where members had sought care, approximately 49% sought care at a private facility and 20010 sought care at a government facility .. Income, knowledge of oral health. age. oral hygiene practices. gender and education were not significant factors in seeking care. This study recorded widespread poor oral health and poor oral hygiene practices among rural communities which implies there was a high demand for oral health care. Utilization of oral health care facilitates was mainly for symptomatic relief There is need to promote public awareness of oral health. in particularly, preventive oral health measures with the aim of reducing the high levels of poor oral health status. Oral health stakeholders through the mass media, barazaas and door-to-door can implement this promotion. There is need for oral health care policy makers to strengthen collaboration between private and public oral health care providers to ensure oral health care services are accessible. affordable, and provide appropriate services.