Dental services status of the disabled performed by dentists

The purpose of this study were to prepare baseline data for developing and implementing oral health policies in disabled people. So it was studied that dental services status of the disabled performed by dentists. Dentists' recognition about the dental treatment of the disabled was investigated, and professional, institutional, and social problems were analyzed. Survey was performed in 10,493 dentists with questionnaire by mailing method. The returned rate of answer was 5.0%. The questionnaire contained dental treatment experience for the disabled, what are the desirable dental treatment for the disabled, the difficulty and the method to solve the problem when dentists treat the disabled, the demand of oral health education in relation to dental treatment of the disabled. The obtained results were as follows;1. The characteristic of the respondents and dental treatment experience for the disabled; Respondents had a more rates in male(77.2%), under 40 years old(60.6%), 5-9 years of dental practitioner(40.2%), a large city(60.3%) and dental clinic by oneself(87.1%). Many respondents had concern about dental treatment for the disabled(77.2%) and they had a experience of dental treatment for the disabled(94.0%). The dentists who treat the disabled days was 47.7%. The dentists who want to participate with network for treating disabled was 63.6%. 2. Desirable dental treatment type for the disabled; Many dentists treated disabled patients in their clinic(past: 62.2%, present: 46.5%). So they want to treat the disabled in specialized institute(42.5%). It needs more acceptable conditions - like support system for the cost and time consuming problem for the disabled. 3. The problems and the solutions of the disabled's dental health; The difficulty of cooperation and insufficiency of specialty or confidence was main problems. So they needed treating equipment for the disabled and improvement of specialty, Decreased ability of disabled's dental health management(52,4%) was main problem to promote the disabled's dental health, The suggested solutions were the obligation of facilities for disabled's dental treatment in new dental service institute(34,1%) and the improvement of social recognition for the disabled(22,1%). 4. The need and experience of education for disabled's dental treatment; The dentists who had the experience of education were 41%. They received the information in dental college(19.7%),books(8.3%), graduate or training course(6.8%), small group study(2.9%) and education for dental practitioners(1.5%). The needs of education were understanding of the disabled(32.7%), behavior control therapy(30.4%), changing of treatment method according to the degree of disabled(25.8%) and the education for emergency situation(5.9%).

치과의사의 장애인 치과진료실태에 관한 조사 연구