title: Dentists' perception of primary health care services in family health and mother and child health clinics in Alexandria, Egypt.
abstract: This study compared dentists' perceptions of provided services in Family Health (FH) and Mother and Child Health (MCH) clinics. A questionnaire was distributed to 120 dentists in 7 FH and 4 MCH clinics in Alexandria, Egypt in 2012. The questionnaire assessed personal and professional background, perceptions of primary health care (PHC) role, types of services provided, patient recall and referral systems and perception of service quality. The response rate was 100%. More FH dentists perceived their role to include providing care for children and pregnant women. Restorations and scaling were provided by 90% of all dentists. More FH dentists reported providing simple extractions, paediatric extractions and multi-rooted endodontic treatment (P = 0.03, 0.001 and 0.001). In FH clinics, where the performance-based incentive system was implemented, a greater number of patients was served and there was a shift in the type of services provided although dentists had a less positive perception of quality aspects. Thus, there is a need for the establishment of a mission and clear guidelines for the FH clinics to guide service provision.
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, University of Dammam, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Maha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: El Tantawi
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Dentistry and Dental Public Health, Faculty of Dentistry, Alexandria.
authors.forename: Maha A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: El-Din Hamza
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Dentistry, Pharos University, Alexandria, Egypt.
authors.forename: Marwa M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Sabry
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D000067576:Child Health; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004534:Egypt; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019239:Practice Patterns, Dentists' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires