To explore and better understand how patients evaluate satisfaction in dental care and elicit information from them to develop a dental satisfaction instrument. Patients currently receiving dental treatment in a teaching hospital were invited to be part of a qualitative research project which involved focus group discussion. Focus groups were conducted in Cantonese and discussions were recorded (audio and video) and later transcribed. Thirty patients participated and a thematic analysis of data from four focus groups helped generate a questionnaire on dental satisfaction. Six themes were extracted from the contents of the focus group: (i) attitude, (ii) cost, (iii) convenience, (iv) pain management, (v) quality, and (vi) patients’ perceived need for prevention of oral disease. Compared to the existing Dental Satisfaction Questionnaire (DSQ), majority of the dental satisfaction aspects mentioned in focus group discussions were similar to items in DSQ supporting its content validity. Focus groups covered more aspects including attitude of dental supporting staff, convenience of emergency services, admission of patients and treatment duration. Consideration of the clinical skills of the operator, hospital infection control, and knowledge on prevention of oral disease were also expressed. The focus group discussions elicited the views of patients not covered by DSQ items thereby suggesting areas for development of a new satisfaction questionnaire.

Traditional Chinese Medicine Constitution (TCMC) refers to an integrated, metastable and natural specialty of individual in morphosis, physiological functions and psychological conditions. It is formed on the basis of innate and acquired endowments in the human life process, which can be divided into normal constitution and unbalanced ones. The aim of this study was to investigate the distribution of TCMCs of Chinese women in Hong Kong and its acquired influencing factors. Local Chinese women between 30 to 65years old, were recruited from 18 districts of Hong Kong (n = 944), and were assessed using the Traditional Chinese Medicine Physical Constitution Scale for their TCMC types. Social-demographic, reproductive, lifestyle, systemic health and emotional status information were collected through structured questionnaire. The associations between different independent factors and each TCMC type, as well as the complex unbalanced TCMC types were tested individually. Significant factors related to unbalanced TCMC types were identified in final models using multiple factor analysis. A total of 764 (80.9%) participants were diagnosed with unbalanced TCMCs. The most common TCMC type was Qi-deficiency constitution (53.9%), followed by Phlegm-wetness (38.9%), Yang-deficiency (38.2%), Yin-deficiency (35.5), Blood-stasis (35.4) and Qi-depressed (31%) constitution. Six hundred and eleven participants (64.7%) had at least two types of combined and unbalanced constitutions. Stepwise logistic analysis indicated that poor systemic health condition (OR, 1.76-2.89), negative emotions (OR = 1.39), overweight (OR = 1.58), high educational level (OR = 1.18) and mental work (OR = 1.44) were significantly positively correlated with certain unbalanced TCMCs. Meanwhile, aging (OR, 0.59-0.73), exercise habit (OR, 0.61-0.79) and reproductive history (OR = 0.72) showed inverse associations with unbalanced constitutions. In addition, systemic health condition and emotional status, exercise habit and age were significantly associated with the combined unbalanced TCMC types. The majority of middle-aged Chinese women in Hong Kong had unbalanced and complex TCMCs. Qi-deficiency, Phlegm-wetness and Yang-deficiency constitutions are the most common constitutions. Poor systemic health condition, less-than-satisfactory emotional life, overweight and mental work are associated with and may be contributors for the formation of unbalanced TCMCs, while regular physical exercise was found to be a potential protective factor for unbalanced TCMCs.

Background: Pregnant women are at risk of oral health problems. This qualitative study aims to understand dental care-seeking behaviours of pregnant women and their oral health-related information acquisition, to identify barriers to and motivators for, dental visits, and further explore their expectations and possible strategies to improve oral health care during pregnancy. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 pregnant women (after 32 gestational weeks) enrolled in the antenatal care programme in a public hospital in Hong Kong. Two main areas of interest were probed: Dental care-seeking behaviour and oral health information acquisition. Their expectations and suggestions on oral health care service for pregnant women were also explored. An inductive thematic approach was adopted to analyse the data. Results: Pregnant women’s dental care-seeking behaviour was deterred by some internal factors, such as misunderstandings on oral health, and priority on other issues over oral health. External factors such as inconvenient access to dental service during pregnancy also affected their care-seeking behaviours. Oral health information was passively absorbed by pregnant women through mass media and the social environment, which sometimes led to confusion. Oral health information acquisition from antenatal institutions and care providers was rare. Greater attention was paid to dental visit when they obtained proper information from previous dental visit experience or family members. A potential strategy to improve oral health care suggested by the interviewees is to develop a health care system strengthened by inter-professional (antenatal-dental) collaboration. Efficient oral health information delivery, convenient access to dental service, and improved ‘quality’ of dental care targeting the needs of pregnant women were identified as possible approaches to improve dental care for this population. Conclusion: Dental care-seeking behaviour during pregnancy was altered by various internal and external factors. A lack of, or conflict between, information sources result in confusion that can restrict utilisation of dental service. Integrating dental care into antenatal service would be a viable way to improve dental service utilisation.

Background:  Much is already known about the consequences of endodontic disease from clinicians’ perspectives; a significant omission is an understanding from patients’ perspectives. This study aimed to determine oral health‐related quality of life (OHQoL) and psychological distress among subjects referred for endodontic care compared to patients in periodontal maintenance.Methods:  This was a case‐control study involving 200 patients; 100 patients requiring endodontic treatment and 100 control subjects (periodontal maintenance patients). OHQoL was assessed using the short form Oral Health Impact Profile measure (OHIP‐14) and psychological well‐being using the short form of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ‐12). Variations in OHIP‐14 and GHQ‐12 scores between the ‘case’ and ‘control’ group were determined, and the magnitude of such differences through effect size (ES) calculations.Results:  There were significant differences in OHIP‐14 summary scores between the case and control groups (p < 0.001) and significant differences across all seven domain scores (p < 0.05). The ES was moderate (0.63) with respect to summary OHIP‐14 scores. There were also significant differences in GHQ‐12 scores between the case and control groups (p < 0.05), but the ES was small (0.36).Conclusions:  OHQoL and psychological well‐being is compromised among patients seeking endodontic treatment, and to a greater magnitude than patients in periodontal maintenance.

Background: Poor oral hygiene and high hormone levels during pregnancy can lead to a deterioration in periodontal health. This study assessed the effectiveness of a family-centered behavioral and educational counselling program on improving the periodontal health of women during pregnancy and postpartum. Methods: A randomized controlled trial was conducted among pregnant women (10th-22nd gestational week) and their husbands. Participating families were randomized into test and control groups. Intervention in the test group included explanation of oral health education (OHE) pamphlets, oral hygiene instruction, individualized feedback, and proposed solutions to overcome barriers in self-care. Reinforcements were implemented in the 3rd trimester of pregnancy and six months postpartum. In the control group, only OHE pamphlets were distributed. The assessed outcomes were bleeding on probing (BOP), periodontal pocket (Poc), loss of clinical attachment (LoA), and Visible Plaque Index (VPI). The data collection was carried out at baseline (T₀), in the 32nd gestational week (T₁), and 12 months postpartum (T₂). Results: Altogether 589 pregnant women were recruited, and 369 attended all three visits (test:188; control:181). In the test group, the mean VPI score at T₀ was 0.19, which decreased to 0.14 at T₁ and 0.15 at T₂. In the control group, the mean VPI decreased from 0.19 at T₀ to 0.16 at T₁, but increased to 0.22 at T₂. A main effect of time and intervention and an interaction between time and intervention were detected (all p < 0.05), indicating that the intervention effect differed between T₁ and T₂. The test group showed a significantly greater decrease over time than the control group did. Similarly, the mean BOP% decreased more significantly over time in the test group (T₀:57%, T₁:46%, T₂:35%) than in the control group (T₀:58%, T₁:52%, T₂:46%). For Poc and LoA, there were improvements in both study groups at 12 months postpartum, compared with during pregnancy (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Providing family-centered, behavioral, and educational counselling to pregnant women at an early stage of pregnancy and with reinforcements can improve their oral hygiene and reduce gingival inflammation. The effect can be sustained over an extended period and is greater than that of distributing oral health leaflets alone. Trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov, #NCT02937194. Registered 18 October 2016. Retrospectively registered, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02937194?cond=Family-centered+oral+health+promotion+for+new+parents+and+their+infants&draw=2&rank=1