Importance of dental problems according to 12- to 16-year-old children.

The willingness to take preventive action is partly determined by the perceived importance of the disease. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of age, sex, education, and ethnicity to the importance of dental and other health problems by 12- to 16-year-old children. The children (361 boys, 272 girls) attending Dutch schools were asked a series of questions requiring a choice by students as to the more important problems in a given pair of conditions. Conditions included systemic, dental, and psychological problems. Nervousness was the least important problem and hearing disability the most of the nine ranked. Having full dentures was ranked third, bad teeth fifth, and toothache sixth of the nine from least (first) to most important (ninth). Age, sex, education, and ethnicity showed no relationship to importance of problems alone or in aggregate.

[Information video about oral hygiene. Short term effects on knowledge, attitude and behavior of 1st and 2nd graders of LBO and MAVO]. / Voorlichtingsvideo over mondhygiëne. Korte-termijneffecten op kennis, attitude en gedragsintentie van 1e- en 2e-klassers van lbo en mavo.

The short term effects of a dental health educational video on adolescents' knowledge, attitude and future behaviour were assessed. Results showed a large effect on knowledge and a small effect on five attitudinal aspects. No effects were found on future behaviour.

Perception of dental and other individual problems: adolescents versus young adults.

The importance of dental problems in comparison with general health problems and psychological problems was judged by 642 adolescents. The methods used were paired comparison and direct ranking of nine stimuli. Adolescents were quite consistent in their choices. The agreement within the group was statistically significant. Adolescents judged dental problems as less important than general health problems and as more important than psychological problems. The correlation between the methods of paired comparison and direct ranking was high. The results were compared retrospectively with findings from a study of 51 older subjects. Adolescents and adults did not differ much from each other except for the ordering of the nine problems. Adults ranked dental problems as the least important.

[Motivation of patients visiting the University Clinic of the Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam]. / Waarom bezoeken patiënten een universiteitskliniek?

Patients (n = 104) visiting the university clinic (UC) of the Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA), were interviewed during their first visit. The respondents were privately insured (1/3) and sickfund patients (2/3). 60% of the respondents had no dentist. Most of the patients came for extensive or difficult treatment. The main reasons for visiting the UC were the expected lower costs (mentioned by 46%), confidence in the UC (24%) and the more extensive possibilities of treatment (10%). The UC was judged negatively with regard to the long waiting and treatment time, the less attractive building and office rooms, and the unexperienced 'dentists'; only the latter aspect, however, is considered a serious objection.

Relative importance of eight oral conditions for a fit dentition according to Dutch general practitioners.

Almost 5 million Dutch National Health Service members visit the dentist half-yearly in order to keep their so-called "dental fitness certificate" valid. The methods of paired comparisons and direct ranking were used to study the relative importance of eight oral conditions for a fit dentition: plaque, calculus, gingivitis, a pocket, a cavity, a root/radicle, a fistula and an extraction diastema. The assessments were made by a sample of Dutch general practitioners under contract to the National Health Service (n = 49). Each dentist was consistent in his comparative pairwise choices. Although agreement between the dentists was statistically significant, the low coefficient indicated individual differences between the dentists. The average rank orders of the eight oral conditions obtained from the dentists as a group by means of the two methods were highly comparable. To obtain dental fitness the dentists judged the treatment of a fistula and gingivitis more important than the treatment of plaque, calculus and cavities, and least important, the three conditions: root/radicles, pockets and extraction diastema. This average rank order indicates a shift in the concept of "dentally fit" as stated in the requirements, dating back to 1960, for granting a dental fitness certificate.

Severeness of toothache and other symptoms as a function of frequency of occurrence and intensity.

The relative severeness of toothache and two non-dental symptoms (headache, stomach complaints) was judged by men and women (n = 47). Each symptom was specified for two frequencies of occurrence (from time to time and regular) and two levels of intensity (minor and heavy). The methods used were paired comparisons and direct ranking of the 12 (3 X 2 X 2) verbal stimuli. Subjects were highly consistent in their pairwise choices. Agreement between judges was also highly significant. The overall ordering of the severity of the stimuli showed a perfect correspondence between the two methods. 'Heavy regular headache', 'heavy regular stomach complaints', and 'heavy regular toothache' were the three symptoms judged most severe. Headache, stomach complaints and toothache, specified as low on frequency and intensity, were judged least severe. Log-linear model fitting showed that the influence of intensity on the preference of a symptom is independent of the frequency of occurrence, and vice versa.

Judging severity of dental problems in relation to other individual problems.

The methods of paired comparisons and direct ranking were applied to the study of the relative severity of three dental problems and nine problems concerning general health, material affairs, and psychologic well-being. Subjects (n = 51) were men and women, psychology freshmen. Direct ranking and paired comparison resulted in highly comparable overall orderings of the 12 problems. It appeared that all subjects were consistent in their comparative pairwise choices. Agreement between judges was statistically significant also, but the results indicated large individual differences. Subjects judge the severity of the three dental problems to be less than the severity of the other problems. There were no significant differences between the judged severity of the three dental problems among themselves. In the discussion several possibilities for future research are mentioned.