The services provided in public health center should be based on the felt need of the population to increase attendance as well as utilization of dental services, thereby increasing the oral health status of the population.
Aims and Objectives: The practice of self-medication may lead to lack of clinical evaluation by a trained medical professional and delay in effective therapy. This study was aimed to find the prevalence of self-medication and identify the common causes of illness/symptoms that necessitate self-medication awareness and develop perception regarding methods to prevent the growing trend of self-medication and associated factors among population those who visit a community outreach programme in Madurai, India. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based survey in which a semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data. A total of 238 participants were included in the study with respect to the final sample size. Data were analysed using SPSS software with a significance level of 0.05, and statistical relationship between the variables was analysed using chi-square test. Results: The prevalence of self-medication is 69.32 per cent. Headache (59.6%), fever (60%), cough (51%) and toothache (25%) were the most common symptoms for self-medication. The most commonly used drugs/substances were analgesics (65.54%), warm saline (38.23%) and hot drinks (27.73%). The most common reason for resorting to self-medication practice was previous experience of successfully treating a similar illness. The majority of the participants (56.97%) were in their third-fourth decade of life. The association of self-medication with characteristics such as male gender, urban locality, and upper-and lower-middle class was statistically significant at a p-value of 0.005. Conclusion: Self-medication practices were quite high in this study, and these practices were also prevalent among the educated people. The physicians and health professionals have to spend some extra time in educating patients regarding the same. Improved knowledge and understanding about self-medication may result in rationale use and thus limit emerging microbial antibiotic resistance issues.
The aim of the study was to assess the oral health status and treatment needs among intellectually disabled (ID) people in Madurai city. Objectives: To evaluate the oral health status and treatment needs among ID people in Madurai city. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 133 ID people obtaining training at special schools in Madurai. After obtaining the parental consent of the participants, oral health was assessed using World Health Organization (WHO) proforma 1997 and oral hygiene level was assessed using Simplified Oral Hygiene Index (OHI-S). Statistical analysis was done using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, version 22.0 for Windows). Results: The result of the present study shows higher prevalence of oral problems in mentally retarded subjects with 31.6% periodontal disease, 49.6% dental caries, and 39.1% poor oral hygiene status, among the study participants. Conclusion: This study gives sufficient evidence to suggest that the oral health status of this disabled population was poor, and there was an increased unmet dental treatment needs.
To review uses of finance in dentistry. A search of 25 electronic databases and World Wide Web was conducted. Relevant journals were hand searched and further information was requested from authors. Inclusion criteria were a predefined hierarchy of evidence and objectives. Study validity was assessed with checklists. Two reviewers independently screened sources, extracted data, and assessed validity. Insurance has come of ages and has become the mainstay of payment in many developed countries. So much so that all the alternative forms of payment which originated as an alternative to fee for service now depend on insurance at one point or the other. Fee for service is still the major form of payment in many developing countries including India. It is preferred in many instances since the payment is made immediately.
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