Abstracts from Poster Presentations at the Scottish Dental Practice-Based Research Network's Symposium held in Edinburgh in November 2001

Symposium Reports

Abstract of poster presentations

Self-reported dental registration and attendance patterns among secondary school pupils in and around Motherwell, Lanarkshire.

Penny McWilliams* and Elspeth Russell

Background

Lanarkshire has some of the worst dental health in Scotland amongst 14 year olds, including the highest proportion of children with some teeth which have suffered from tooth decay. An oral health initiative for young people in the Motherwell North S.I.P. area was proposed, and baseline research was commissioned to explore access to NHS dental treatment.

Aims

To explore perceived levels of dental registration, and dental attendance within the previous year, among S3 (14-15 year old) school pupils in Motherwell North and surrounding areas.

Methods

Questionnaires were distributed to seven secondary schools, with a combined school roll of 1163 pupils, and were administered by teachers.

Findings/points of interest

Overall response rates was 70% (59-81% among the various schools).

• 70.4% of respondents thought they were registered with a dentist.
• 85.8% of respondents claimed to have visited a dentist within the last year.
• 18% of the completed questionnaires (60.3% of those who completed this particular question) gave 'no need for dental treatment' as the reason for not going to the dentist regularly.

The results were analysed according to Deprivation Codes, comparing the results from respondents from postcode sectors DEPCATS 1-3 with DEPCATS 4-7. The differences were very small.

Relevance for policy and practice

The high self reported levels of dental registration and attendance are not borne out by figures from Scottish Dental Practice Board, suggesting that initiatives to improve dental attendance may need to tackle the perceptions of the target group with regard to their oral health needs, rather than issues such as access.

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