Oral health services in PR China as evaluated by dentists and patients

Objective: To describe the function of oral health services and the deliver y of oral health care in PR China. Design: Cross-sectional surveys. Self-ad ministered questionnaires gathered information on professional practices an d attitudes of Chinese dentists. Patients were examined clinically for cari es and services rendered. Patients were interviewed about oral health statu s, reason of dental visits and consumption of services, perceived need for care and self-care practices. Setting: Wuhan City of the Hubei Province of China. Subjects: Random samples of dentists (n=250) working with child and adult patients in 1998 in Wuhan City. Each dentist had a representative sam ple of 20 patients attending consecutively for care enrolled in the study. Results: On average, the dentists saw 12 patients per day, with most time d evoted to restorative treatment and extraction. The majority of dentists he ld the opinion that in China little attention is given to preventive care. Forty per cent of the patients were new to the dentists and more than half attended care because of pain or acute symptoms, The reported mean number o f decayed, missing, and filled teeth varied from 2.6 for 12-year-old patien ts to 10.7 for patients aged 65-74. Daily toothbrushing was practised by mo re than 90% of the patients in all age groups, however, the tradition of re gular dental visits was weak. Most patients (51-75 per cent) attended for c are due to acute problems or pain. Conclusion: The study indicated the need for reorientation of the Chinese oral health services towards prevention.