This study was necessitated by the need to evaluate the effect of the level of education and income on the attitude to oral health and the options of treatment undertaken by dental patients.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:
A one point observational study of the patients attending the UCH dental clinic was conducted using a questionnaire.
Results: One hundred and three patients participated in the study that spanned 3 months (April-June, 2006). Fifty six (54.4%) of the patients were males while 47(45.6%) were females. Eighty six (83.4%) patients had at least secondary school education out of which 65 (63.1%) actually had tertiary education. While there was significant positive correlation between the level of education and income (P=0.00), there were no significant correlations between the level of education, level of income and the attitude to oral health.
Seventy four of the patients (71.8%) had tooth extractions while the remaining patients had non surgical treatments. A multiple regression to find out the factors that determine the option of treatment revealed that neither the level of education, income nor occupation were significant determinant of treatments undertaken.
CONCLUSION:
Although, the larger proportion of the dental patients were well educated and had better income, this did not improve their attitude to oral health. Most patients either presented late when only surgical treatment could be done or they were not properly motivated to undertake conservative options thus opted for tooth extraction.