Aim: This study attempts to identify oral healthcare providers’ perceptions toward transgender patients, their perceived barriers in accessing oral health services, and to check if they were open to inclusive oral healthcare practices. This study also aimed to study the experiences of transgender patients in oral healthcare settings including their oral healthcare seeking behaviors and beliefs. Materials and Methods: A questionnaire study was conducted among 50 oral health practitioners and 96 transgenders in and around Puducherry (U.T.). The questionnaire explored participant demographics, their beliefs, and their experiences like barriers and transgender-inclusive practices in oral healthcare settings. Results: The results exposed the agreement of 26% of oral health practitioners’ unwelcoming attitudes toward transgender patients in their clinics. Furthermore, 43% of the transgenders revealed that they faced discrimination from certain oral health practitioners and the other patients in the clinic during their visits. Almost 72% of participants stated that they lack financial coverage for their treatments. Conclusion: A sense of responsibility among oral health practitioners and the common people to impart a sense of comfort and safety to transgenders is warranted. The government must enforce strict laws against discrimination and promote education, vocational training, employment, psychosocial counseling, free gender-affirmative surgeries, and subsidies for other healthcare concerns of the transgenders. The dental bodies must promote awareness of oral health issues of transgenders and conduct preventive and treatment programs for them regularly.
Ramasamy et al. (Thu,) studied this question.