Barriers to Restorative Care as Perceived by Dentists in Nigeria

Purpose: To identify the barriers to restorative care as perceived by dentists working in urban and semi-urban dental hospitals in Nigeria. Materials and Methods: The study was cross sectional and the sample consisted of 189 of 280 dentists who consented to, filled out and returned the questionnaire mailed to them. The questionnaire consisted of fifteen itemed statements and the respondents were asked to what extent they agreed or disagreed with each item on a four-point Likert scale; 'not at all', 'slight extent', 'some extent' and 'great extent'. Five barrier factors were extracted from the questionnaire. These were 'beliefs of patients', 'knowledge of patients', 'equipment/materials', 'attitude' and 'motivation of practitioner'. Two questions were not grouped with the barrier factors: 'dentistry is being looked down on by administration' and 'patients prefer extraction to filling'. Results: The barrier factor 'attitude of patients' had the highest score (mean = 3.73), followed by the 'knowledge of patients' (mean = 3.27). The barrier factor 'belief of patients' had the lowest score (mean = 2.43). Conclusion: Within the limitations of the study, the barrier factor 'attitude of patients' was the most important barrier to restorative care as perceived by dentists working in urban and semi-urban regions of Nigeria. Keywords: barrier, restorative care