Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Perceptions of dental patients in Tanzania regarding barriers to restorative care were examined. METHODS: A total of 1138 dental patients aged 15 years and above, attending 12 selected government dental clinics in January 2005, completed a pre-tested questionnaire. anova and logistic regression were used to identify the effects of independent variables upon the barrier factors. RESULTS: Ten barriers to restorative care in Tanzania were identified. The five main barriers included: No advice received from dentist (mean = 3.82); Lack of knowledge on restorative care (mean = 3.58); Lack of habits for going for dental check-ups (mean = 3.31); Bother that one may get in seeking restorative care (mean = 3.28) and Past experience with dental treatment (mean = 3.25). Less respondents in the middle economic zone perceived issues related to beliefs and misinformation, lack of knowledge on restorative care and past experience with dental treatment to be barriers than respondents in low and high economic zones (P < 0.01). However, more of them perceived issues related to high fee for restoration, bother that one may get in seeking restorative care and few clinics rendering restorative care (P < 0.0001) to be barriers than respondents in the high economic zone did. Women, more than men, perceived few clinics rendering restorative care and no advice received from dentist as barriers to restorative care (P < 0.01). Respondents who had received a restoration and/or had relatives who had received a restoration perceived bother that one may get in seeking restorative care and no advice received from dentist more as barriers to restorative care than did those who lacked that experience and whose relatives had not received a restoration (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: No advice received from dentist and lack of knowledge on restorative care, were the two major barriers to restorative care, as perceived by dental patients in Tanzania. Implementation of the Atraumatic Restorative Treatment approach may overcome many of the barriers identified.
