Parental Assessment of Access and Barriers to Access to Oral and Dental Health Services in Children Referring to Dentistry Centers inTehran City, 2018, (Iran)

Background and Objectives: Promotion of oral and dental health in children is an underlying factor for increased level of community health, which is not achieved without providing desirable dental services. Accessibility and patient satisfaction are two factors affecting oral and dental health services. The aim of this study was to investigate the barriers to access to oral and dental care services in children and satisfaction with these services from the viewpoint of parents referring to dental care centers in Tehran city.   Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study, was performed on 262 parents of children referred to dental care centers in Tehran city. Data collection tool was a questionnaire containing demographic information, current status of health care, barriers to access to dental care services, and satisfaction with these services. Data were analyzed using regression test.   Results: Ninety-four percent of the parents reported at least one barrier to access to dental care services. The most common barriers, were insufficient dental insurance coverage, wasting a lot of time in the waiting room, and high costs of dental treatment; 91.5% of the children had dental visit during the last year. The reason for the last dental visits in 50.6% of the children, was toothache and in 37.9%, was dental checkups; 45.38% of the children had received preventive dental care. Also, parental satisfaction with dental services for children, was reported to be 50.76%.   Conclusion: Based on the evaluation of many parents, there were barriers to access to children's dental services in Tehran's health care centers. The insufficient dental insurance coverage, high waste of time in waiting room, and high cost of treatment, are the most common mentioned barriers. According to the results, half of the parents, were satisfied with the services received by their children.