Behaviors and Management of the Dental Problems by the Residents of Madinah, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Introduction: Dental problems are commonly encountered in our lives. Some of the common problems are toothache, bleeding gums and halitosis. Objectives: How the dental problems were handled, and reasons of not seeking dental treatment by the patients. Materials and methods: This was an observational analytical cross-sectional study on adult’s age above 14 years from Madinah. Results: A total of 400 adults were included; 208 (52%) were males and 192 (48%) were females. Resident encountered toothache surprisingly only 49% sought dental treatment, while (41%) settled for taking medications. Among bleeding gum patients most of them (45%) went to the dentist, while (41%) settled for using the home care. And dealing with halitosis only (17%) went to the dentist. The most common reasons for not seeking dental treatment were fear and long appointments. And mostly they had fear because of dental drill and dental needle. Conclusion: The most common problems for seeking treatment were toothache followed by bleeding gums and the least was halitosis. Number of people who sought treatment was still a low number. The most common reason that stopped patients from going to the dentist was fear and long appointments. There should be increase of dental clinics and patients should be given dental education.