Please activate JavaScript!
Please install Adobe Flash Player, click here for download
ePaper created 2016-06-09, 15:16:05 | version 1.38.0
Journal of Oral Science & Rehabilitation Volume 2 | Issue 2/2016 59 K n o w l e d g e a b o u t p e r i o d o n t a l d i s e a s e a m o n g p a t i e n t s r e f e r r e d t o a s p e c i a l i s t c l i n i c Introduction The role ofplaque accumulation as an etiological factortothe development ofperiodontaldisease is well established.1–3 In the last decades, some risk factors associated with the progression of periodontal disease have also been identified (i.e., specific bacteria, smoking habit, poorly controlled diabetes, stress, obesity, gender, socio-economic status, genetics).4 The associa- tion between periodontal status and systemic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, respi- ratory disease and obesity, has also been high- lighted during the last years.5–8 It is the duty of dentists and dental hygienists to transfer this knowledge to the patients. It has been reported that once patients are informed aboutthe nature of their disease, the dental professionals are consequently able to obtain the patients’ com- pliance in establishing good periodontal health behavior.9 In this matter, Horne et al. identified three important aspects: the patient’s compli- ance (“the extent towhich the patient’s behavior matchestheprescriber’srecommendations”),the adherence (the agreement between the patient and the health care provider to follow the pre- scriber’srecommendations)andtheconcordance (the agreement between a patient and a health care professional in determining whether, when and how medicines have to be taken).10 Blinkhorn considers that unsatisfactory ad- herence can often be explained by inadequate information and when the information is irrele- vant to the patient.11 The patient’s awareness and knowledge of periodontal disease appears also to be a keyfactorfor successful periodontal treatment.12, 13 Deinzer et al., in a study involving 1,001 interviews in a German community, repor- ted a deficit in knowledge about risk factors associated with periodontal disease and sugge- sted that education on periodontal disease should be improved.9 Pralhad and Thomas re- ported that there were some differences in the knowledge of periodontitis among different health care professionals.14 Knowledge about risk factors associated with periodontal disease among patients re- ferred to specialist periodontal clinics has not yet evaluated. For this reason, the objective of the present study was to evaluate knowledge about periodontal disease among patients re- ferred to a specialist periodontal clinic for a pe- riodontalexamination.The second objectivewas to evaluate the source of the patients’ informa- tion. Materials and methods All consecutive patients (N=145) referred to the specialist periodontalclinic in Borås, Sweden,for a periodontal clinical examination betweenJune and December2014were included.The patients werereferredfromprivateandpublicdentalclin- ics in the county of Södra Älvsborg, in Sweden. Afterregistration ofthe patients’ anamneses and before undergoing clinical examination, the patients were asked whether they had been re- ferredfromaprivateorpublicclinic,whetherthey knew the reason why they had been referred to aspecialistclinic(yes/no)andwhethertheyknew about possible causes/risk factors associated with periodontal disease. Patients could express one or more causes and did not have to choose fromalistofsuggestionsoraquestionnaire.Their answers were then collated into the following groups: genetics/inheritance, stress, smoking, poororalhygiene/bacteria, systemic disease (di- abetes, cardiovasculardisease, medicine intake). The patients were also asked whether they had obtainedtheirknowledge on periodontaldisease from dentalprofessionals,the Internet, newspa- pers or other sources. Thepatientswereinformedthattheiranswers were being collected anonymously for research analysis. All of the patients gave their consent. S t a t i s t i c a l a n a l y s i s Meanvalueandstandarddeviationwereusedfor datadescription.Thepercentageofpatientswith respect to the different answers was calculated and differences were analyzed by a chi-squared test, using IBM SPSS Statistics (Version 22.0; IBM,Armonk, N.Y., U.S.).Ap-value of<0.05was considered to be significant. Results Thenumberofpatientsincludedinthestudywas 145;64weremales(meanageof54.4;S.D.±14.6) and 81 were females (mean age of 57.8; S.D.±15.8). Of these patients, 37.2% had been referred from private clinics and 62.8% from public clinics (Table 1). Only 9.7% had not been informed about the reason they were being re- ferred to the specialist clinic, and in this respect, no difference was noted between private and public dental clinics (Table 2). When asked whether they had any knowledge about the causes of or risk factors for periodontal disease Volume 2 | Issue 2/201659