Dental Service Utilization of a Rural Population in Nigeria

Background: Dental health is often neglected by a vast majority of the population and has contributed to the global burden of oral diseases. Prevention of disease, disability and suffering should be a primary goal of any society that hopes to provide a decent quality of life for its people. Dental care/service utilization is an indispensable facilitator of oral health, as dental caries and gingivitis are preventable with regular access to preventive dental services. Several reasons have been attributed to use and non-use of dental services and include socio-demographic factors such as age, sex, educational attainment, and household income. Objective: To determine dental service utilization of a rural population in South-east Nigeria. Methodology: A cross sectional study of 268 participants was carried out at Ozalla Model Primary Health Centre, Ozalla Health Centre and Umueze Awkunanaw Health Centre located in Ozalla community and Umueze Awkunanaw community respectively. Ethical clearance for this study was sought and obtained. Permission was sought from the head of each health centre, while individual verbal consent was obtained from the respondents before giving out the pretested questionnaire which was interviewer-administered. Data was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 20. Results: 126(47 %) males and 142(53%) females were seen. The age of the participants ranged from 18 - 86 years with a mean age of 32.4 ± 13.3 years. 131(48.9%) were married, 133(49.6%) were single and 4(1.5%) were divorced. 39(14.6%) had only primary level of education, 142(52.6%) secondary, 67(25.0%) tertiary and 21(7.8%) had no formal education. 64(23.9%) had utilized dental service, while 204(76.1%) had not visited a dental clinic (had not utilized dental service). The common reason for dental service utilization was dental pain. The predominant occupation was farming and small scale business/trading. P= 0.038. Conclusion: Dental health was neglected by a vast majority of the participants, The poor utilization of dental service by the respondents could be due to poor awareness, absence of dental insurance, financial constraints , lack of perceived need for dental care, economic difficulties ,socio-demographic factors such as age, sex, educational attainment, and household income. Effort needs to be applied to create better awareness and possibly increase dental clinic attendance. Emphasis should be placed on benefits of utilizing preventive dental services rather than only curative through dental awareness programms.