Dental treatment behavior among residents aged 35-44 years in Gansu province

Objective To find out dental treamtent behavior of residents aged 35-44 in Gansu province.Methods With the method adopted in the 3rd National Oral Health Epidemiological Survey,a questionnaire survey on dental treamtent behavior was conducted among 789 residents aged 35-44 years in Gansu province.Results Among the residents,41.57% had never visited dentists and the percent age in the rural was sign ificantly higher than that of in the urban(P=0.002).During the latest year,only 22.81% of the subjects had visited dentists and acute or chronic to othache was the main reason for their last dental clinicvisit.The most frequent treamtent for the dental clinic visitors was pulling outor filling a tooth or putting in a false tooth.The proportions of medical establishments visited by the subjects were obvious different between urban and rural residents(P=0.000)and private dental clinics were visited by the most of the subjects.90.66% of the residents paid their dental service costs them selves.During the latest year,the main reasons for those people who had no dental clinic visit were without dental disease,without seriousoral disease,and with financial difficultie's The proportion off inancial difficultiy for visiting dental clinic in the rural was higher than that of in the urban.Conclusion Lower income and self-paid visit are the main factors that inhibits peasants visiting dental clinics.Development of dentalmedical establishments in rural and in the community should be strengthened.