Oral health habits, attitudes, barriers to dental care in Shanghai

Objectives:Changes in the delivery of oral health care and the introduction of private dental practice in certain areas of China require studies to explore the oral health habits, related attitudes and possible barriers to dental care. Methods:This study used a questionnaire to sample a pool consisting of 380 adults and 162 children with the child's questionnaire completed by the parents. This report presents the information obtained from the children's section of the questionnaire only.Results: The top 4 perceived barriers to dental care were: long waiting periods, busy working schedules, cost and fear respectively. 88% of parents reported they teach their children to brush their teeth and 94% reported their children brush once or twice daily. Despite this, caries was the number one cited reason for dental visits. In addition, two-thirds of parents have no opinion towards the importance of primary teeth. The major reported barriers to children's dental care are long waiting periods, busy working schedules of parents, fear, and cost respectively.Conclusions: This survey illustrates the need to improve the quality of preventive dental care for children in Shanghai, China. Some possible solutions include more dental facilities and both preventive and treatment-oriented insurance policies. This study was supported by Project HOPE.