title: Self-Reported Obstacles to Regular Dental Care among Information Technology Professionals.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Good oral health is important for an individual as well as social well-being. Occupational stress and work exhaustion in Information Technology (IT) professionals may influence the oral health and oral health related quality of life.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess and compare self-reported obstacles for regular dental care and dental visits among IT professionals based on age, gender, dental insurance and working days per week.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1,017 IT professionals to assess the self-reported obstacles to regular oral health care in Hyderabad city, Telangana, India. The Dental Rejection of Innovation Scale (DRI-S) was employed in this study. Comparison between means of DRI-S based on variables was done using t-test and ANOVA. The association between variables and DRI-S was determined using Chi-square test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 1017 participants comprising of 574 (56%) males and 443 (44%) females participated in the study. As age increased, a significant increase in mean DRI-S scores was seen for total and individual domains except for the "Situational" domain wherein higher mean score (9.42±2.5; p=0.0006) was observed among 30-39 years age group. Even though females reported higher mean scores for total and individual domains when compared to males, nevertheless significant difference was seen only for total (p=0.03) and "Lack of Knowledge" (p=0.001) domain.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Self-reported obstacles to regular dental care was more with increasing age, increased number of working days per week, irregular dental visits and absence of dental insurance facility.
authors.affiliation: Postgraduate Student, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Panineeya Institute of Dental Sciences and Hospital , Hyderabad, Telangana, India .
authors.forename: L Swetha
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.affiliation: Professor, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Panineeya Institute of Dental Sciences and Hospital , Hyderabad, Telangana, India .
authors.forename: Dolar
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Doshi
authors.affiliation: Reader, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Panineeya Institute of Dental Sciences and Hospital , Hyderabad, Telangana, India .
authors.forename: B Srikanth
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.affiliation: Professor and Head, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Panineeya Institute of Dental Sciences and Hospital , Hyderabad, Telangana, India .
authors.forename: Suhas
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kulkarni
authors.affiliation: Reader, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Panineeya Institute of Dental Sciences and Hospital , Hyderabad, Telangana, India .
authors.forename: M Padma
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.affiliation: Senior Lecturer, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Panineeya Institute of Dental Sciences and Hospital , Hyderabad, Telangana, India .
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Satyanarayana
authors.affiliation: Reader, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Panineeya Institute of Dental Sciences and Hospital , Hyderabad, Telangana, India .
authors.forename: Pavan
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Baldava
keywords: Dental visit; Knowledge; Oral care; Questionnaire; Utilization