Abstract
Aim: The aim of this study was to analyse the main reasons for dental visits and care provided for adults in the conservative and surgical departments of the Republican clinical stomatological polyclinic, Minsk, Republic of Belarus. Ethics approval was not required.
Methods: The present study analysed data from randomly selected dental records of 1074 patients who had attended the conservative and oral surgery department of the Republican Clinical Stomatological Polyclinic, Minsk in the 2016 year. The age of patients varied from 18 to 78 years (mean = 48 ± 6.8); 470 (44%) were males, 604 (56%) were females. Type of attendance (primary, recalled), reasons for dental visit, diagnosis and treatment methods were analysed.
Results: According to the data the first visits were 356 of 1074 all the visits (33%). The reason for dental visit of more than 1/3 of the patients - 410 cases (38%), was pain or discomfort in the mouth. The most frequent diagnosis was caries – 372 cases (35%) and apical periodontitis - 298 cases (28%). In the conservative and surgical departments, the most common treatment were fillings - 384 cases (36%) and teeth extraction – 182 cases (17%). No preventive measures were provided for the patients.
Conclusions: The most frequent reasons for attendance of the patients to the Republican Clinical Stomatological Polyclinic were pain and discomfort in the mouth. The commonest dental disease was caries and its complications. Accordingly, treatments provided were fillings and tooth extractions. The adults who were assessed in this study were not motivated enough to have regular annual visits to the dentist for check-ups and no preventive measures were recorded on their dental record cards.
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