Dental Treatment Services Utilization Among Indian Expatriates In The City Of North Carolina, U.S.A-A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Oral health diseases are a burden among vast population of the world, and hadalso beenassociated with significant health conditions like cardiovascular diseases, renal diseases, and other systemic diseases. In general, the cost of living in America is relatively high when compared to India. So the cost of dental treatments had increased, and people seldom visit their dentists for general check-ups. They also neglect oral health care, which needs equal importance as that of public health care.Aim: This study aims to determine the utilization of dental services among Indian expatriates living in North Carolina, U.S.A.Materials and method:The cross-sectional study was conducted among the people of North Carolina.Convenience sampling technique was used to select the study subjects. The pre-tested questionnaire was administered to 50 Indian expatriates.Questions were based on the objective of analyzing people's knowledge about dental utility services.The demographic details of the participants were collected. Descriptive analysis was done, and the chi-square test was applied to check the association between males and females.Results:Among the total study group of 50 subjects; 20 males and 30 females, it was observed that only 33.3% had been visiting a dentist for the past one year.Only 66.5% of females utilizedprivate dental services in the U.S.A., whereas62.1% of the male population preferredto undergo dental treatment in India. The association between males and females who spent more money on each dental visit was statistically significant(p<0.04).Conclusion: About 38.8% of people choose to undergo procedures in the U.S. because of comfort and their advanced technology. The cost of dental treatments in the U.S. was too expensive. Owing to thewell equippedinfer among the American dentist, and the latest advancement on sterilization of instruments were used.