Perception About Accessibility and Affordability of Oral Health Services Among Patients Attending Dental Institutions/Hospitals in Bangalore City: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Introduction: Utilization of health service is a concept of expressing the extent of interaction between the service provider and the people for whom it is intended. There has been a lot of interest in understanding oral health care utilization behavior as it is important for the delivery of effective oral health care. Aim: To assess patient's perception about accessibility and affordability of oral health services in dental institutions/hospitals in Bangalore city. Methodology: A cross-sectional survey was carried out among 400 patients who attended dental institutions/hospitals in Bangalore city. A self-structured, pre-tested, close-ended questionnaire was self-administered to the patients which included patient's consent, demographic details & questions pertaining to perception about accessibility and affordability of oral health services. Face validity of the questionnaire was checked with the help of experts in the department of Public health dentistry. Reliability was also assessed & Cronbach's alpha was found to be 0.80. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square test was carried out to check the signicant difference. Results: The age of participants was signicantly associated with cultural beliefs and attitudes toward utilizing dental services. Additionally, socioeconomic status signicantly impacted several aspects: the location of dental institutions, the perceived lack of advanced technology in these institutions, the cost of dental services and travel, the willingness to take a day off work to visit the dentist, and the preference for government hospitals over private ones. Conclusion: This study conrms that costs of dental services, travel costs, time constrains, location of dental institution, culture, belief and attitude of patients, preference of govt hospital over private hospital were the highly reported barriers associated with accessibility and affordability of dental services.