Agreement between Patient Need and Dental Service Provision in a District Hospital, Sakon Nakhon Province

Abstract

             This cross–sectional study was conducted to assess agreement between patient need and dental service provision and to explore the relationships between explanatory variables including sex, age, health insurance and their needs for preventive dental services. Thai dental patients aged 18 years old or more visited the Kusuman hospital, Sakon Nakhon from July 1st, 2019 to December 31st, 2019 were studied. Percent concordance and Kappa statistic were used to identify the statistical agreement. The Chi–square test was employed to analyze the univariable association between explanatory variables and the needs for preventive dental services.

           There were 711 dental patients, received 863 dental visits, aged 18–89 years old (mean ± SD: 45.6 ± 16.1 years). Only 5.6 % of dental patient needed preventive dental services such as request for annual dental check–up, prophylaxis cleaning and fluoride therapy. Concerning dental service received, only 1.7% of dental patients received preventive intervention such as prophylaxis cleaning, tropical fluoride application, dental check–up and oral hygiene instruction. The concordance rate between the patient needs and the dental service receiving in a preventive aspect was 31.25% and the Kappa was 0.462 (p < 0.001). Age and health insurance status were associated with the need for preventive dental service. Patients aged 18–59 years old were more likely to attend preventive dental care than those of the elderly (p = 0.004). Patients with civil servant medical benefit scheme (CSMBS) and social security scheme (SSS) were more likely to use preventive dental care than those of insured under universal coverage scheme (UCS) (p =0.001).

           Keywords: Health service, Dentistry, Public health