Tooth brushing and utilization of dental services in Fiji (1998)

Utilization of services is considered the presence or absence of care received. The most common measure of utilization is the annual number of dental visits per person. This study aims to determine oral health practices, which were a measure of their oral hygiene status and the use of health care facilities. It also aims to investigate the major problems that exist within the health care system in 1998, which may explain the lack of use of dental services. Fijians and Indo-Fijians were two ethnic groups in the sample, selected by stratified multi-stage cluster sampling. Only two age categories, 15-19 and 35-44 year-olds were selected being the index age for World Health Organization in Oral Health Surveys. A total of 1,000 questionaires were distributed and the completed questionnaires (n = 619) were collected immediately. Thirty one percent of the respondents indicated that they learnt to care for their teeth from dental personnel. Of the individuals who brushed their teeth twice a day, 41% visited the dentist within the last 12 months. Majority of the individuals (65%) who brushed their teeth twice or more daily indicated that they needed dental treatment. Individuals who visited the dentist within the last 12 months reported having a tooth extracted (53%), check-up (29%), filling (8.9%), polishing of teeth (3.7%), gum problem (3.2%) and false teeth (1.8%). Individuals who brushed twice daily did not visit the dentist within the last 12 months because nothing was wrong (63.2%), too busy (9%) and afraid of the dentist (7%). More than 80% of the respondents were satisfied with the current services, but indicated improvement on the waiting time (31.2%), availability of more treatment options in dental clinics (27.5%), dental fees (15.4%), improvement on the facilities for dental care (10.1%), a customer-friendly dental personnel (9.4%) and considerations for infection control (6.4%).