Mass. residents give high marks to dentists, oral health

A study released today by the Massachusetts Dental Society (MDS) found that Massachusetts residents place a high level of importance on their oral health and believe access to all dental services should be made available to everyone, including those covered under government assistance programs.

The survey, conducted February 1-3, 2011, by DAPA Research, surveyed 500 Massachusetts residents on a wide range of oral health issues and has a plus-minus error rate of 4.4%.

Nearly all of those surveyed (98%) said they believe that oral health is an important part of overall health. In addition, 84% ranked oral health as being very important to them, and 83% indicated that they had visited a dentist in the past year.

Additionally, two-thirds (67%) of the respondents said they believed that all dental services should be covered for patients under MassHealth, not just cleanings and extractions as is now the case.

"It's clear that most people understand there is a direct link between oral health and overall health," said pollster Dave Paleologos in a press release issued by the MDS. "In many areas of public health, it's a real struggle to educate people. But Bay State residents seem to be well ahead of the curve when it comes to understanding the importance of caring for their mouths and issues related to maintaining good oral health."

The study also revealed that just over half (54%) of those surveyed have private dental insurance and more than a third (36%) indicated that they pay for dental care out of their own pocket.

Those surveyed also demonstrated a high level of awareness to many specific oral health issues, according to the MDS. For example, 89% believed that mouthguards can prevent serious injuries to teeth and mouth, and 77% indicated that they would support students being required to wear mouthguards while playing any contact sport, including basketball and soccer.

When asked to compare a dental exam with an eye exam, 93% ranked a visit to the dentist as being either as important, or more important, than visiting an eye doctor, with 67% indicating that children should be required to have a dental exam before entering school for the first time.

Additionally, 87% said that chewing tobacco was not safer than smoking cigarettes, as opposed to just 7% who thought it was safer. And on the issue of fluoride, 65% of the respondents said they believed that community water fluoridation is an effective way of preventing cavities, while 22% said they didn't believe it to be effective.

"While two-thirds of people understanding the oral health benefits of fluoride is a statistic that's certainly encouraging, it also demonstrates the need for us in the dental profession to continue to educate the public on this important issue," said John Fisher, president of the MDS.

Respondents to the survey also had a high opinion of those providing the care, according to the MDS. More than 80% said their opinion of dentists was either very positive or somewhat positive, with just 7% viewing dentists as either somewhat negatively or very negatively, and 67% ranked dentists as being most trustworthy, compared with just 3% who viewed them as being untrustworthy.

More than three-quarters (77%) said they considered dentists to be healthcare providers, compared with 19% who viewed them as being businesspeople. And nearly 70% of those responding said that, if given a choice, they would be more sympathetic to dentists than to health/dental insurance companies, compared with 10% more sympathetic to insurance companies and 20% who didn't know.