Perception of Dental Illness Among Persons Receiving Public Assistance in Montreal

Overview

Journal Am J Public Health

Specialty Public Health

Date 2005 Jun 30

PMID 15985647

Citations 16

Authors

Christophe Bedos

Jean-Marc Brodeur

Alissa Levine

Lucie Richard

Laurence Boucheron

Witnisse Mereus

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objectives: We examined rationales for behaviors related to dental care among persons receiving public assistance in Montreal, Quebec.

Methods: Fifty-seven persons receiving public assistance participated in 8 focus groups conducted in 2002. Sessions were recorded on audiotape and transcribed; analyses included debriefing sessions and coding and interpreting transcribed data.

Results: In the absence of dental pain and any visible cavity, persons receiving public assistance believed they were free of dental illness. However, they knew that dental pain signals a pathological process that progressively leads to tooth decay and, therefore, should be treated by a dentist. However, when in pain, despite recognizing that they needed professional treatment, they preferred to wait and suffer because of a fear of painful dental treatments and a reluctance to undertake certain procedures.

Conclusions: Persons receiving public assistance have perceptions about dental health and illness that prevent them from receiving early treatment for tooth decay, which may lead to disagreements with dentists when planning dental treatments.

Citing Articles

Shades of Decay: The Meanings of Tooth Discoloration and Deterioration to Mexican Immigrant Caregivers of Young Children.

Masterson E, Barker J, Hoeft K, Hyde S Hum Organ. 2015; 73(1):82-93.

PMID: 26279585 PMC: 4537173. DOI: 10.17730/humo.73.1.861831136642q074.

[Adaptability of physicians offering primary care to the poor: social competency revisited].

Loignon C, Boudreault-Fournier A Healthc Policy. 2013; 9(Spec Issue):59-70.

PMID: 24289940 PMC: 4750155.

Types of dental fear as barriers to dental care among African American adults with oral health symptoms in Harlem.

Siegel K, Schrimshaw E, Kunzel C, Wolfson N, Moon-Howard J, Moats H J Health Care Poor Underserved. 2013; 23(3):1294-309.

PMID: 24212175 PMC: 3859136. DOI: 10.1353/hpu.2012.0088.

How health professionals perceive and experience treating people on social assistance: a qualitative study among dentists in Montreal, Canada.

Bedos C, Loignon C, Landry A, Allison P, Richard L BMC Health Serv Res. 2013; 13:464.

PMID: 24192504 PMC: 4228236. DOI: 10.1186/1472-6963-13-464.

Design of a community-based intergenerational oral health study: "Baby Smiles".

Milgrom P, Riedy C, Weinstein P, Mancl L, Garson G, Huebner C BMC Oral Health. 2013; 13:38.

PMID: 23914908 PMC: 3751087. DOI: 10.1186/1472-6831-13-38.

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