IADR Abstract Archives
Why Dentists are Unwilling to Treat Pregnant Women?
Objectives: While oral health problems are common among pregnant women,dentists are not willing to deliver oral health care to them.This study aimed to explore dentists’ perspectives on providing dental service to pregnant women
Methods: In this qualitative study, two organized focus group discussions were conducted by one of the researchersand an assistant as facilitator.Participants (n=12) were selected purposefully fromdentists working in public health centers, in two socioeconomicallydifferentdistricts ofTehran, Iran,in February 2015.A topic guide was used on demographic characteristics, thedentists’ experiences about treating pregnant womenandrelatedbarriers. Bysaturation of data,the interviews were audiotaped and transcribed with the permission of the participants and then coded for content analysis using MAXQDA10 software
Results: The age of the dentists ranged from 25 to 48 years (mean age: 36.6 ± 9.6 years) with a mean work experienceof 10.3 ± 2.4 years. About 60% of dentists expressed they had not taken any continuing education courses regarding prenatal oral health. Of 250 extracted codes, the major findingsas reasons of low dental service delivery to pregnant women were categorized within four main themes, Insufficient knowledge about dental care during pregnancy, lack of supportive policies, intersectoral collaboration and time
Conclusions: Lack of knowledge and supportive policieswere reported as the most common reasons for low dental service deliveryduring pregnancy calling for aneed to legislate laws to train and support dentists in particular those who are more involved in oral health care of pregnant women.
Methods: In this qualitative study, two organized focus group discussions were conducted by one of the researchersand an assistant as facilitator.Participants (n=12) were selected purposefully fromdentists working in public health centers, in two socioeconomicallydifferentdistricts ofTehran, Iran,in February 2015.A topic guide was used on demographic characteristics, thedentists’ experiences about treating pregnant womenandrelatedbarriers. Bysaturation of data,the interviews were audiotaped and transcribed with the permission of the participants and then coded for content analysis using MAXQDA10 software
Results: The age of the dentists ranged from 25 to 48 years (mean age: 36.6 ± 9.6 years) with a mean work experienceof 10.3 ± 2.4 years. About 60% of dentists expressed they had not taken any continuing education courses regarding prenatal oral health. Of 250 extracted codes, the major findingsas reasons of low dental service delivery to pregnant women were categorized within four main themes, Insufficient knowledge about dental care during pregnancy, lack of supportive policies, intersectoral collaboration and time
Conclusions: Lack of knowledge and supportive policieswere reported as the most common reasons for low dental service deliveryduring pregnancy calling for aneed to legislate laws to train and support dentists in particular those who are more involved in oral health care of pregnant women.