Coping with tooth pain: a qualitative study of lay management strategies and professional consultation.
This research analyzes transcripts of semi-structured interviews with patients presenting with tooth pain at a rural dental clinic in North Florida. The primary objectives are to identify the strategies patients use to manage their pain and to elucidate the decision-making process leading to the clinic visit. Although respondents understood that their condition was not self-limiting, only about one-half contacted the clinic within several days of the onset of their pain. Most tried one or more lay management strategies.
Stoller
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EP
Department of Sociology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106-7124, USA. eps3@po.cwru.edu
Gilbert
G H
GH
Pyle
M A
MA
Duncan
R P
RP
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003657:Decision Making; D003729:Dental Care; D004435:Eating; D005260:Female; D005431:Florida; D015438:Health Behavior; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008519:Medicine, Traditional; D008875:Middle Aged; D009910:Oral Hygiene; D010147:Pain Measurement; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D012423:Rural Health; D012648:Self Care; D012890:Sleep; D012923:Social Class; D013997:Time Factors; D014076:Tooth Diseases / Q000150:complications; D014098:Toothache / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy