Abstract
Introduction: It is quite difficult for people with impaired hearing to interact with people who can hear. This situation is more grave while receiving dental or medical treatment as the health professionals might be unaware about the special modes of communication causing deleterious effect on the oral health of patients with impaired hearing.
Aim: To assess the dental treatment experiences of patients with impaired hearing in Southern Saudi Arabia.
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among patients in the age range of 18 to 45 years, subjects with impaired hearing in Southern Saudi Arabia for a period of three months from April 2017 to June 2017. All those subjects who had only hearing impairment and who gave the consent of participation in the study were included and all those who had other disabilities or systemic diseases and who were not willing to participate in the study were excluded from it. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed among the study subjects with impaired hearing at their centres. The duly filled questionnaires were collected the next day from the respondents. The data was analysed statistically using SPSS version 17.0. Descriptive analysis and Chi-square tests were used. Statistical significance was set at p-value <= 0.05.
Results: About (n=120, 77.9%) respondents had visited the general dentists for their or their child's dental treatment (n=31, 20.1%), while (n=3, 1.9%) of the respondents had not visited any dentist for treatment. The difference between the responses was found to be statistically significant (p-value <= 0.001). Majority (n=72, 46.8%) of the respondents encountered difficulties during their appointment with the dentists. About (n=111, 72.1%) of the respondents reported that they were not asked about their preferred way of communication by the assisting dental staff, before the start of treatment. Only (n=43, 27.9%) of the respondents were being enquired about the same. The difference between the responses was statistically significant (p-value = 0.001).
Conclusion: Majority of the respondents encountered difficulties during their appointment with the dentists. A major proportion of the respondents rated their dental visit experience as "very unpleasant' and while others rated it as being unpleasant. The dentists should be aware of the modes of communication while dealing with patients with impaired hearing so that they could avail the health services easily.