Access to oral care and attitudes to the dentist by German and Turkish parents

The aim of this study was to collect information on the attitude to dentists and access to dental care by German and Turkish parents. To meet this aim, 829 parents attending a school medical inspection received a questionnaire. 811 (97.8%) questionnaires were returned and 778 (93.8%) could be used for analysis. Compared to German parents Turkish parents had a more negative attitude to the dentist. In particular, communication with the dentist was assessed more negatively by Turkish parents. Clearly more Turkish than German parents agreed that their dentist frequently made them feel guilty because of poor oral hygiene (31.2 vs. 5.6%). 7.7% of German but 23.9% of Turkish parents thought that their dentist did not give them enough information. Among the Turkish interviewees, language problems rather played a minor role in communication problems. 12.6% of German and 19.3% of Turkish interviewees thought they could not believe everything what the dentist said. Only 54.0% of the German and 28.9% of the Turkish parents knew that fissure sealants were paid by the statutory sickness fund. Dentists should be better trained in dealing with patients with a different social or cultural background. Also, dentists should be taught to consider health problems rather from a social than from an individual aspect. To improve cost transparency, dentists should publish the list of services not covered by the statutory sickness fund. Moreover, an independent patient consultation service should be offered.