The Level of Availability and Use of Oral and Dental Health Services in 6-7 Years Old Children, Qom, Iran

Oral and dental hygiene plays an important role in provision and promotion of social health. The present study was carried out with the aim of evaluating the rate of availability of oral and dental health services and its effect on oral and dental health in 6-7 years old children in Qom city.

This study was conducted as a cross-sectional study on 281 children in Qom province. The sampling method was Stratified sampling from rural and urban children. Data were collected using a checklist and analyzed by logistic regression model.

56.2% of the samples were boys and the remaining were girls. 88.6% resided in urban areas and 11.4% in rural areas. The mean SD of decayed, missing, filled teeth (DMFT) and DMFT-ratio were 6.04 3.86 and 35.9 23.62%, respectively. From all children under study, 173 (61.2%) had a history of use of dentistry services and 167 (61.9%) had access to the services. There were significant associations between the use of oral and dental health services and DMFT variables, socioeconomic status, and access to the services. Also, there was a significant association between type of received services and socioeconomic status.

The results of the present study showed that due to the non-availability of free dental care in Iran, some of the barriers to using the services, especially the role of preventive services can be reduced through increased access to the services in rural and urban areas as well as increased parental awareness of the importance of primary teeth in the health of permanent teeth and physical health of children.