Dental pain and self-care: a cross-sectional study of people with low socio-economic status residing in rural India

Abstract

Context: Self-care is one of the ways in which people without access to professional care can actively engage in managing their oral health problems.

Aim: To find out the prevalence of dental pain and the type of self-care remedies utilised for pain relief by people with low socio-economic status residing in Kollipara mandal, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh.

Settings and design: This was a cross-sectional population-based study.

Methods and material: A multistage simple random-sampling technique was adopted to obtain an appropriate sample. A questionnaire, which consisted of sections on socio-economic and demographic variables, dental pain, pain characteristics and self-care remedies utilised to combat dental pain, was used to collect data. Statistical analysis used the chi-square test and descriptive statistics.

Results: The survey covered a total population of 630 individuals. The mean age of the population was 32.8±16.7 years. Among the total study subjects, 44.1% were male and 55.9% were female. The prevalence of dental pain reported during the preceding 6 months was 28.3%. Subjects who experienced dental pain reported the home remedies and self-care methods that they utilised to get relief from the pain. They more frequently reported using over-the-counter medication (49.6%) for pain relief.

Conclusions: This study provides an insight into the type and usage of self-care in relief of dental pain. Pain sufferers used a variety of self-care methods to deal with their problems.

Keywords: Toothache; complementary therapies; home-remedies; rural oral health.