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Understanding patients’ and dentists’ perspectives in dental trauma management: A mixed-methods study

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-12, 00:48 authored by Wataru Ode, Violeta Lopez, Mun Loke Wong, Lone Schou, Victoria Soo Hoon Yu
Background/Aim: Patients suffering dental trauma are unprepared for the disability challenge and necessary rehabilitation, while a traumatic event places an expanded demand on the dentist who is focused on treating disease. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of traumatic dental injuries (TDI) on patients and to compare patients’ and dentists’ perceptions of the event. Material and methods: TDI patients (aged ≥ 21 years) attending a tertiary dental hospital from 2011 to 2013, and their dentists were recruited with informed consent. An exploratory sequential mixed-methods design was adopted. The Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14) quantitatively identified patients with “very often,” “fairly often” or “occasionally” in at least one of the OHIP-14 questions (Phase 1) to participate in the qualitative phase of the study through focus group discussions (FGD) (Phase 2). FGD for dentists was conducted separately. Results: Quantitative analysis showed 28%-55% of TDI patients had “occasional” to “very often” discomfort during eating, increased self-consciousness and embarrassment. Qualitative analysis showed patients were concerned with aesthetic disability, treatment cost and potential tooth loss but overcame their negative outlook and accepted prescribed protective measures. Dentists appreciated patients’ concerns about aesthetics and functional disruptions but were less attuned to patients’ sense of guilt and fear of judgement. Conclusions: TDI exert functional, psychological and social impacts on patients. Patients’ and dentists’ perspectives were useful for understanding the need for continuity of care, and the findings could contribute to effective TDI management.

History

Volume

34

Issue

5

Start Page

320

End Page

328

Number of Pages

9

eISSN

1600-9657

ISSN

1600-4469

Publisher

Wiley

Language

en

Peer Reviewed

  • Yes

Open Access

  • No

Acceptance Date

2018-06-05

External Author Affiliations

National University of Singapore

Era Eligible

  • Yes

Medium

Print-Electronic

Journal

Dental Traumatology