Perceived barriers to preventive dental care among Libyan dentists

Aim: To explore the barriers to providing preventive dental care to patients, as perceived by Libyan dentists working in Benghazi. Settings and design: A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based survey was conducted among dentists working in Benghazi, Libya. Materials and methods: All dentists registered with the Dental Association of Benghazi and with 2 or more years of practice were invited to participate. The questionnaire collected information on participants' demographic and professional characteristics as well as the patient-, practice-and dentist-related barriers to providing preventive dental care. Statistical analysis: Scores for each type of barrier were compared by demographic and professional characteristics in bivariate and multivariate analyses. Results: One hundred and seventy five dentists returned the questionnaires (response rate: 79%) and 166 had complete information on all the variables selected for analysis (75%). The majority were females (70%), aged between 23 and 34 years (85%), was working in the public health sector (43%), and had up to 5 years of service (46%). Patient-related barriers were scored the highest, followed by practice-and dentist-related barriers. Dentists with mixed practice reported lower scores on patient-and practice-related barriers than those in public or private practice. Conclusion: Respondents were generally aware of the barriers to preventive dentistry and perceived the barriers as being more related to their patients than to their practices or themselves. However, these perceptions varied by practice sector.