Evaluating True Barriers to Dental Care for Patients with Periodontal Disease.

ABSTRACT: The cost of care is often reported as a primary reason why patients fail to seek dental treatment; however, this may not the only component. To examine an underserved population's perspective on the importance of dental care and barriers they face to seek treatment. The effectiveness of compliance incentives, such as gift cards, was also examined. We conducted a survey study to gain insight of an underserved population's perspective of barriers to care and correlated the reported barriers with the true reasons of missed appointments in our study cohort. Appointment compliance was also examined before and after implementation of gift card incentives, appoitment reminder letters and additional staff. Most patients felt dental care was important/very important to them. However, no correlation

SUBMITTER: Treloar T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8104443 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature