Community Dental Health

cover art

Cover Date:
March 2018
Print ISSN:
0265 539X
Electronic ISSN:
2515-1746
Vol:
35
Issue:
1

Illness perceptions amongst individuals with dental caries

Objective: To assess individuals’ perception of dental caries, in order to explain how illness representations might influence their coping with the disease. Methods: Cross-sectional questionnaire study. Participants: 520 consecutive patients (aged ≥18 years) of the Generalm Dentistry Clinic at Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia, Pasto, Colombia who had experienced dental caries. Main Outcome Measures: Illness perception of dental caries was assessed using the Illness Perception Questionnaire Revised (IPQ-R). Results: The most frequent self-reported symptoms associated with dental caries were “toothache” (56.2%), “tooth sensitivity” (53.8%) and “mild to sharp pain when eating or drinking” (51.2%). The dimensions of illness perception were related to socio-economic status (SES). Symptoms of “loose or
separating teeth” and “pus in your tooth” were associated with dental caries by low SES participants, while “bleeding while brushing, flossing or eating hard food” and “mild to sharp pain when eating or drinking something sweet, hot or cold” were related more to higher SES. Conclusions: Perceptions of caries were related to socioeconomic status. Interventions to promote health literacy in order to improve the capacity to obtain, process and understand basic oral health information could increase an early detection of caries.

Key words: dental caries, perception, attitudes, health belief, health behaviour, socioeconomic status, Colombia

10.1922/CDH_4098Mafla07

Article Price
£15.00
Institution Article Price
£
Page Start
16
Page End
22
Authors
A.C. Mafla, F.H. Villalobos-Galvis, M.W. Heft

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  1. Editorial - Logos, Ethos and Pathos: Whither academia and public health in a post-truth world?
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  1. Review and action plan for oral health improvement in Sheffield special schools
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  1. Impact of stress on dentists’ clinical performance. A systematic review
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  1. Illness perceptions amongst individuals with dental caries
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  1. The relationship between depression and periodontal diseases
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  1. The use of cost-utility analysis for the evaluation of caries prevention: an exploratory case study of two community-based public health interventions in a high-risk population in the UK
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  1. A systematic review of interventions using cue-automaticity to improve the uptake of preventive healthcare in adults: applications to dental visiting
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  1. Turkish Adaptation of Dentine Hypersensitivity ExperienceQuestionnaire (DHEQ)
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  1. Recall intervals and time used for examination and prevention by dentists in child dental care in Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden in 1996 and 2014
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