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©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Factors associated with regular dental visits among hemodialysis patients
Masami Yoshioka, Yasuhiko Shirayama, Issei Imoto, Daisuke Hinode, Shizuko Yanagisawa, Yuko Takeuchi, Takashi Bando, Narushi Yokota
Masami Yoshioka, Shizuko Yanagisawa, Department of Oral Health Science and Social Welfare, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Tokushima University Graduate School, Tokushima 7708504, Japan
Yasuhiko Shirayama, Yuko Takeuchi, Department of Community Medicine and Welfare, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Tokushima University Graduate School, Tokushima 7708504, Japan
Issei Imoto, Department of Human Genetics, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Tokushima University Graduate School, Tokushima 7708503, Japan
Daisuke Hinode, Department of Hygiene and Oral Health Science, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Tokushima University Graduate School, Tokushima 7708504, Japan
Takashi Bando, Department of Oral Surgery, Kawashima Hospital, Tokushima 7700011, Japan
Narushi Yokota, Department of Kidney Disease (Artificial Kidney and Kidney Transplantation), Kawashima Hospital, Tokushima 7700011, Japan
Author contributions: Yoshioka M was the principal investigator and was involved in study conception, design and supervision; Shirayama Y participated in study design; Imoto I participated in study design and critically reviewed the manuscript; Hinode D participated in statistical analysis and critically reviewed the manuscript; Yanagisawa S performed data collection and input; Takeuchi Y performed data collection and input; Bando T and Yokota N arranged the interviews at the dialysis facilities; all authors have given their approval for the final version of the paper to be published.
Supported by A Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (25463246) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the ethics committee of Tokushima University Hospital (No. 1741).
Informed consent statement: All study participants gave their informed consent verbally prior to study inclusion.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There are no conflicts of interest to report.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Masami Yoshioka, DDS, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Oral Health Science and Social Welfare, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Tokushima University Graduate School, 3-18-15 Kuramotocho, Tokushima 7708504, Japan.
yoshioka.masami@tokushima-u.ac.jp
Telephone: +81-88-6339171 Fax: +81-88-6339171
Received: February 18, 2016
Peer-review started: February 22, 2016
First decision: March 25, 2016
Revised: May 6, 2016
Accepted: June 27, 2016
Article in press: June 29, 2016
Published online: September 6, 2016
Processing time: 195 Days and 23.1 Hours
AIM
To investigate awareness and attitudes about preventive dental visits among dialysis patients; to clarify the barriers to visiting the dentist.
METHODS
Subjects included 141 dentate outpatients receiving hemodialysis treatment at two facilities, one with a dental department and the other without a dental department. We used a structured questionnaire to interview participants about their awareness of oral health management issues for dialysis patients, perceived oral symptoms and attitudes about dental visits. Bivariate analysis using the χ2 test was conducted to determine associations between study variables and regular dental check-ups. Binominal logistic regression analysis was used to determine factors associated with regular dental check-ups.
RESULTS
There were no significant differences in patient demographics between the two participating facilities, including attitudes about dental visits. Therefore, we included all patients in the following analyses. Few patients (4.3%) had been referred to a dentist by a medical doctor or nurse. Although 80.9% of subjects had a primary dentist, only 34.0% of subjects received regular dental check-ups. The most common reasons cited for not seeking dental care were that visits are burdensome and a lack of perceived need. Patients with gum swelling or bleeding were much more likely to be in the group of those not receiving routine dental check-ups (χ2 test, P < 0.01). Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that receiving dental check-ups was associated with awareness that oral health management is more important for dialysis patients than for others and with having a primary dentist (P < 0.05).
CONCLUSION
Dialysis patients should be educated about the importance of preventive dental care. Medical providers are expected to participate in promoting dental visits among dialysis patients.
Core tip: We investigated dialysis patients’ awareness and attitudes about preventive dental visits, and tried to clarify the barriers to visiting the dentist. Subjects included 141 dentate outpatients receiving hemodialysis treatment. We interviewed participants using a structured questionnaire. The common reasons dialysis patients cited for not seeking dental care were lack of concern and/or lack of awareness of the importance of preventive dental visits. Medical practitioners rarely refer dialysis patients for dental care. Our findings suggest that dialysis patients should be educated about the importance of preventive dental care. Medical providers are expected to participate in promoting dental visits among dialysis patients.
