अमूर्त

Dental public health, preventive dentistry & education

Mohamed Elabiad

Statement of Problem: Public are not educated well. This causes the dilemma of debilitating Dental Public Health (DPH) & hence General PH, resulting in significant personal, social and economic cost and the impact of all three may compound these costs. Researchers have reported that people with these experiences are more difficult to treat; many do not access treatment and those who do, frequently do not keep home care. However, these people perspective has not been previously studied. The purpose of this study is to describe the experience of seeking help.

Methodology & Theoretical Orientation: An inter subjective ethnographic study using hermeneutic dialogue was utilized during participant observation, in- depth interviews and focus groups. An ecological framework was utilized to focus on the interaction between the counselors and the staff to understand these relationships and the context in which it occurs.

Findings: The people in this study were very active help seekers. They encountered many gaps in continuity of care. The treatment center was a warm, healing and spiritual place, then the results were satisfying.

Conclusion & Significance: People want help however the health and social services do not always recognize their calls for help or their symptoms of bad oral hygirene. Recommendations are made for treatment centers to become more aware that would help this recognition.