Documentation of Oral Health Care Seeking Behavior and Influencing Factors Through Community Consultations in the Field Practice Area of a Teaching Dental Institution

Background: Preventive dental visits help in the prior detection and treatment of oral diseases; therefore, to improve oral health outcomes, an opposite knowledge of the way the individuals use health services and the factors apocalyptic of this behavior is essential. Aim: To quantify oral health-care-seeking behavior and influencing factors in the field practice area. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was done in the field practice area among WHO indexed age groups using a pretested and validated questionnaire in August 2017. A stratified random sampling technique was used resulting in a sample size of 200 to assess oral health-care-seeking behavior and influencing factors in this population. Obtained data were analyzed using SPSS version 20. Descriptive statistics, Chi-square test, and binomial logistic regression analysis were used to summarize the results, whereP ≤ 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: The results of this study evinced a female preponderance of 64% with less proportionate (26%) of the study population seeking oral health services, out of which private dental clinic occupied the first choice in using dental services (17%). A carious tooth without pain was the most common dental problem irrespective of age (47.5%). Females were 0.392 times more likely to attend dental visits when compared to males (P = 0.003), while considering social class, people belonging to the upper-middle class were 0.24 times more likely to avail dental services when compared to lower social class (P = 0.015). Conclusion: This study revealed lower rates of dental services sought among the field practice area where most of them availed private clinics compared to government clinics.