Dental pain and self-care: a cross-sectional study of people with low socio-economic status residing in rural India.

Abstract

CONTEXT:

Self-care is one of the ways in which people without access to professional care can actively engage in managing their oral health problems.

AIM:

To find out the prevalence of dental pain and the type of self-care remedies utilised for pain relief by people with low socio-economic status residing in Kollipara mandal, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh.

SETTINGS AND DESIGN:

This was a cross-sectional population-based study.

METHODS AND MATERIAL:

A multistage simple random-sampling technique was adopted to obtain an appropriate sample. A questionnaire, which consisted of sections on socio-economic and demographic variables, dental pain, pain characteristics and self-care remedies utilised to combat dental pain, was used to collect data. Statistical analysis used the chi-square test and descriptive statistics.

RESULTS:

The survey covered a total population of 630 individuals. The mean age of the population was 32.8±16.7 years. Among the total study subjects, 44.1% were male and 55.9% were female. The prevalence of dental pain reported during the preceding 6 months was 28.3%. Subjects who experienced dental pain reported the home remedies and self-care methods that they utilised to get relief from the pain. They more frequently reported using over-the-counter medication (49.6%) for pain relief.

CONCLUSIONS:

This study provides an insight into the type and usage of self-care in relief of dental pain. Pain sufferers used a variety of self-care methods to deal with their problems.

• Authors: Ashish K Jaiswal, Srinivas Pachava, Suresh Sanikommu, Sudhir S Rawlani, Sivakumar Pydi, Bhanukiran Ghanta
• Journal: International dental journal (Int Dent J) Vol. 65 Issue 5 Pg. 256-60 (Oct 2015) ISSN: 0020-6539 [Print] England
• PMID: 26310915 (Publication Type: Journal Article)
• Copyright: © 2015 FDI World Dental Federation.

Chemical References

• Analgesics
• Nonprescription Drugs

Topics

• Adolescent
• Adult
• Aged
• Analgesics (therapeutic use)
• Child
• Cross-Sectional Studies
• Educational Status
• Family Characteristics
• Female
• Humans
• India (epidemiology)
• Male
• Medicine, Traditional
• Middle Aged
• Nonprescription Drugs (therapeutic use)
• Pain Measurement (methods)
• Phytotherapy (statistics & numerical data)
• Population Surveillance
• Poverty (statistics & numerical data)
• Prevalence
• Rural Health (statistics & numerical data)
• Self Care (statistics & numerical data)
• Social Class
• Toothache (epidemiology)
• Young Adult