Dental Care: Perception of Health Workers in Faith Mediplex, Benin

OBJECTIVES:To assess the dental care knowledge, attitude, practices and needs of health workers in Faith Medical centre Benin, Edo state. Nigeria. This study was designed to investigate the suitability of other health workers as dental care educators. A multi-disciplinary approach is needed for dental education of health workers to be effective. METHODS:This descriptive cross sectional study was conducted on 78 health workers in a private hospital, Faith Mediplex Benin, Edo State, Nigeria using a self administered questionnaire. RESULTS: There was 100% response; out of which 80.8% use toothpick to remove impacted food between their teeth and 66.7% do not use dental floss reflecting a poor dental care. Only 7.7% go for routine dental check while 41.7% visit the dentist when they have pain. This tends to show a poor attitude of the health workers in faith Mediplex to their dental care. The health workers major source of information is the dentist. A total of 75.6% had no reason to visit a dentist, 16.7% reported that cost prevented them from having dental treatment while 7.7% felt it was not necessary. CONCLUSION:The results of this study show limited knowledge on dental care among health workers in Faith Mediplex. The health workers need adequate knowledge of dental care for themselves and the different categories of patients that come to the hospital so that they can be suitable dental care co-educators.