Our Patients Think That? Wide Ranging Survey Published
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- Published: Tuesday, 22 March 2022 07:45
- Written by Peter Ingle
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Amid all the reports of questions in the commons, the media coverage and the professions take on the state of UK dentistry, patients’ opinions have often been an afterthought.
One welcome insight into the mind of the public is the Denplan Consumer Oral Health Survey. After a pandemic enforced hiatus since 2019, the 2022 report has now arrived. Denplan’s parent company Simply Health may well have an agenda but the report has impressive credentials. Conducted by DeltaPoll an established company known for their national political polling as well as social and public sector research, a sample of 5,060 adults were surveyed in October 2021.
The first section, “Who visits the dentist?” revealed that 6% of respondents never see a dentist, with another 10% only going when in pain.
Regular attendance, defined as at least once every two years, was consistent at around 80% in England, Scotland and Wales. Despite this 47% of respondents reported having an emergency dental appointment for themselves or a dependant in the last 12 months. Of irregular attenders 37% gave fear of the experience and pain as the main reason, with only 17% citing the lack of NHS availability.
Those wishing to build their practices will be closely examining the second section, “Patient values, affordability and satisfaction.” In answer to what patients found important, the top scoring responses were, ensuring the health of teeth and gums, trusting their dentist, quality of care, confidence in cross infection measures, good communications, and being seen quickly in an emergency. These all scored 90% or more.
When it came to satisfaction with care and treatment, this was reported by 79 % of regular attenders, rising to 83% amongst private patients.
A new section in the report considered the impact of the pandemic. Regarding dental visits, while 44% claimed to have been 6 monthly attenders before the pandemic, only 33% had been in the 6 months before the survey. 36% of respondents felt that the pandemic had negatively impacted upon their oral health. Possible reasons for this were revealed in the finding that amongst this group, 19% were eating more sugary foods, 7% were smoking more, with 2% starting to smoke during the pandemic, and 17% drinking more alcohol.
Looking at the nations oral health habits, hygienists may want to look away now. 26% of adults admitted to brushing once or less a day. While 51% of adults reported brushing for the recommended 2 minutes 27% of adults only brushed for 1 minute, and 5% of adults were brushing for 30 seconds or less. 74% of adults rinse after brushing, including 35% who use a mouthwash, possibly a reflection of the power of advertising versus professional advice. When it came to interdental cleaning, 22% of adults said they did this once a day and 20% of adults never did. Of those doing interdental cleaning less than once a day 19% gave it being boring as the reason for their reluctance. The makers of Metronidazole will be pleased to read that 9% of adults, and 20% of 25-34 year olds, reported sharing a toothbrush with another person.
The remaining sections investigated, Links between oral health and general health, and Children’s oral health. 75% of adults agreed that poor oral health can have a significant impact on general health.
53% recognised that oral health had a link to mouth cancer, 17% thought it could be linked to heart disease and heart attacks, and 12% were aware of a connection to diabetes. Encouraging as these responses were, it was also revealed that 83% were not confident about what they would be looking for or did not know what the signs were, when checking themselves for mouth cancer.
Adults generally gave encouraging responses to the questions on children’s oral health, however actual experiences were less positive. 26% of parents had children who had experienced tooth decay, and of those 47% said that the tooth was extracted as a result. Of those who had a tooth extracted, 38% were hospitalised for this and given a general anaesthetic.
The full survey together with a commentary from Denplan’s Clinical Director Dr Catherine Rutland, and Head Dental Officer Dr Louis Mackenzie, can be found at consumer-oral-health-survey-denplan-2022.pdf
Image source https://www.flickr.com/photos/11946169@N00/9436653177 Not modified - Licence
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