Objectives: To determine access to dental care among preschool children of Arabic-speaking immigrant families; to investigate the influence of social and cultural factors on access to dental care; and to measure preschool children’s oral health as reported by their parents. Methods: This survey used a semi-structured questionnaire to interview 100 Arabic-speaking parents of children under the age of 5 who were identified from community centres. Five scales were used to measure acculturation, social capital, oral health literacy, oral health knowledge, and health literacy. Results: Only 34% of families had visited the dentist to obtain dental care for their preschool children. Nineteen-percent of Arabic parents in our sample rated their children’s oral health as being fair or poor. None of the scales used in this study had a significant impact on access to dental care; however, higher scores on these scales tended to be associated with better access to dental care.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/30157 |
| Date | 01 December 2011 |
| Creators | Al-Rudainy, Oras |
| Contributors | Lawrence, Herenia P. |
| Source Sets | University of Toronto |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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