Factors associated with dental visit and barriers to utilisation of oral health care services in a sample of antenatal mothers in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia

Background: The aims of this study were to determine factors associated with dental visit and to describe barriers to utilisation of oral health care services among antenatal mothers attending the Obstetric and Gynaecology Specialist clinic in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia. Methods: A struct...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Saddki, Norkhafizah, Yusoff, Azizah, Hwang, Yew L
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BioMed Central 2010
Subjects:
Online Access:http://eprints.usm.my/39102/
http://eprints.usm.my/39102/1/Factors_associated_with_dental_visit_and_barriers.pdf
_version_ 1848878652581740544
author Saddki, Norkhafizah
Yusoff, Azizah
Hwang, Yew L
author_facet Saddki, Norkhafizah
Yusoff, Azizah
Hwang, Yew L
author_sort Saddki, Norkhafizah
building USM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Background: The aims of this study were to determine factors associated with dental visit and to describe barriers to utilisation of oral health care services among antenatal mothers attending the Obstetric and Gynaecology Specialist clinic in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia. Methods: A structured, self-administered questionnaire was used obtain information on the variables of interest pertaining to the current pregnancy from 124 antenatal mothers. Results: The majority of the mothers claimed that their oral health status was good (67.0%) or very good (2.4%). On the contrary, most of them admitted of having had at least one oral health problem (59.7%) including cavitated (43.5%) and painful teeth (15.3%), bleeding gum (21.0%), and bad breath (10.5%). However, only 29% of the mothers visited dentist during the current pregnancy. Factors associated with the mothers’ dental visit were exposure to oral health education before the pregnancy and awareness of relationship between poor maternal oral health and adverse pregnancy outcomes with odds ratio of 4.06 (95% CI: 1.67-9.78) and 3.57 (95% CI: 1.30-9.77) respectively. Common excuses given by most mothers include perceptions of not having any oral health problems (65.9%), long waiting time at the clinic (71.6%), and no immediate treatment given by the dentist (64.8%). Conclusions: Utilisation of oral health care services among antenatal mothers was low. Mothers who reported dental visit were more likely to be those who had received oral health education before the current pregnancy and knew of the association between poor maternal oral health and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Dissatisfaction with the services rendered and perceptions of not having any oral health problems were the main barriers.
first_indexed 2025-11-15T17:34:45Z
format Article
id usm-39102
institution Universiti Sains Malaysia
institution_category Local University
language English
last_indexed 2025-11-15T17:34:45Z
publishDate 2010
publisher BioMed Central
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling usm-391022018-02-22T01:24:48Z http://eprints.usm.my/39102/ Factors associated with dental visit and barriers to utilisation of oral health care services in a sample of antenatal mothers in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia Saddki, Norkhafizah Yusoff, Azizah Hwang, Yew L RK1-715 Dentistry Background: The aims of this study were to determine factors associated with dental visit and to describe barriers to utilisation of oral health care services among antenatal mothers attending the Obstetric and Gynaecology Specialist clinic in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia. Methods: A structured, self-administered questionnaire was used obtain information on the variables of interest pertaining to the current pregnancy from 124 antenatal mothers. Results: The majority of the mothers claimed that their oral health status was good (67.0%) or very good (2.4%). On the contrary, most of them admitted of having had at least one oral health problem (59.7%) including cavitated (43.5%) and painful teeth (15.3%), bleeding gum (21.0%), and bad breath (10.5%). However, only 29% of the mothers visited dentist during the current pregnancy. Factors associated with the mothers’ dental visit were exposure to oral health education before the pregnancy and awareness of relationship between poor maternal oral health and adverse pregnancy outcomes with odds ratio of 4.06 (95% CI: 1.67-9.78) and 3.57 (95% CI: 1.30-9.77) respectively. Common excuses given by most mothers include perceptions of not having any oral health problems (65.9%), long waiting time at the clinic (71.6%), and no immediate treatment given by the dentist (64.8%). Conclusions: Utilisation of oral health care services among antenatal mothers was low. Mothers who reported dental visit were more likely to be those who had received oral health education before the current pregnancy and knew of the association between poor maternal oral health and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Dissatisfaction with the services rendered and perceptions of not having any oral health problems were the main barriers. BioMed Central 2010 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://eprints.usm.my/39102/1/Factors_associated_with_dental_visit_and_barriers.pdf Saddki, Norkhafizah and Yusoff, Azizah and Hwang, Yew L (2010) Factors associated with dental visit and barriers to utilisation of oral health care services in a sample of antenatal mothers in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia. BMC Public Health, 10 (75). pp. 1-11. ISSN 1471-2458 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/10/75
spellingShingle RK1-715 Dentistry
Saddki, Norkhafizah
Yusoff, Azizah
Hwang, Yew L
Factors associated with dental visit and barriers to utilisation of oral health care services in a sample of antenatal mothers in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia
title Factors associated with dental visit and barriers to utilisation of oral health care services in a sample of antenatal mothers in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia
title_full Factors associated with dental visit and barriers to utilisation of oral health care services in a sample of antenatal mothers in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia
title_fullStr Factors associated with dental visit and barriers to utilisation of oral health care services in a sample of antenatal mothers in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia
title_full_unstemmed Factors associated with dental visit and barriers to utilisation of oral health care services in a sample of antenatal mothers in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia
title_short Factors associated with dental visit and barriers to utilisation of oral health care services in a sample of antenatal mothers in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia
title_sort factors associated with dental visit and barriers to utilisation of oral health care services in a sample of antenatal mothers in hospital universiti sains malaysia
topic RK1-715 Dentistry
url http://eprints.usm.my/39102/
http://eprints.usm.my/39102/
http://eprints.usm.my/39102/1/Factors_associated_with_dental_visit_and_barriers.pdf