Challenges of Iranian Adolescents for Preventing Dental Caries

BACKGROUND Oral health plays a vital role in people's general health and well-being. With regard to the costly treatments of oral diseases, preventive programs need to be designed for dental caries based on children's perspectives. OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to describe and explore challenges for caring dental health based on children's perspectives. PATIENTS AND METHODS A qualitative design with content analysis approach was applied to collect and analyze the perspectives of students about factors influencing oral and dental care. Eighteen Iranian students in 8 guidance schools were chosen through the purposive sampling. Semi-structured interviews were held for data gathering. In order to support the validity and rigor of the data, different criteria such as acceptability, confirmability, and transferability were utilized. RESULTS During data analysis, four main themes developed: "barriers to dental health," "maintaining dental health," "uncertainty in decision-making" and "supportive factors". "Uncertainty in decision-making" and "barriers to dental health" were the main challenges for preventing dental caries among adolescents. CONCLUSIONS "Certainty in decision-making" to maintain dental health depends on overcoming the barriers of dental health. Further research is needed to confirm the findings of this study.