Factors associated with regular dental visits among hemodialysis patients

Table 1 Demographic profiles of participants

Facility	Facility A With dental department	Facility B Without dental department	Total
Number of subjects	88	53	141
Age	61.9 ± 11.6	65.1 ± 9.7	63.1 ± 11.0
Sex
Male	59	31	90
Female	29	22	51
Duration of dialysis
< 1 yr	6	4	10
1-4 yr	23	12	35
5-9 yr	21	15	36
≥ 10 yr	38	22	60
Employment
Employed	35	15	50
Unemployed	53	38	91
Primary dentist
Yes	68	46	114
No	20	7	27
Dental check-up
Yes	31	17	48
No	57	36	93

Table 2 Self-reported oral health status (n = 141)

	No.	% of Subjects
Number of teeth
≥ 20	101	71.6
10-19	25	17.7
1-9	15	10.6
Possession of denture
Yes	34	24.1
No/unused	107	75.9
Oral symptom
Toothache/sensitive	26	18.4
Shaking tooth	22	15.6
Gum swelling/bleeding	29	20.6
Food impaction	104	73.8
Bad breath	49	34.8
Sticky mouth	30	21.3
Crooked teeth	21	14.9
Malocclusion	28	19.9
Clicking of jaw joint	14	9.9
Lack of tooth	13	9.2
Dry mouth	55	39.0
Rough lip	22	15.6
Wrong taste	15	10.6
Frequent stomatitis	20	14.2
Odd feeling to denture	2	1.4
Other	8	5.7

Table 3 Reasons for not seeking dental care (n = 93)

	No.	% of subjects
No perceived need	33	23.4
Burdensome	36	25.5
No time to go	16	11.3
Anxiety for dental treatment	2	1.4
Physical burden (fatigue/tired)	3	2.1
Psychological burden (fear/painful/hate)	13	9.2
Economic burden	0	0.0
Uneasy accessibility	0	0.0
No attendant	2	1.4
No reliable dentist	0	0.0
Others	10	7.1

Table 4 Distribution of subjects receiving vs not receiving dental checkups, according to study variable (χ² test)

Variable	Receive dental check-up		Not receive dental check-up		P
	n1	%2	n1	%2
Sex
Male	29	60.4	61	65.6	0.545
Female	19	39.6	32	34.4
Employment
Employed	15	31.3	34	36.6	0.502
Unemployed	33	68.8	59	63.4
Referral to dental visit by medical practitioner
Yes	4	8.3	2	2.2	0.102
No	44	91.7	91	97.8
Possession of denture
Yes	17	35.4	17	18.3	0.024
No/unused	31	64.6	66	71.0
Gum swelling/bleeding
Yes	4	8.3	25	26.9	0.007
No	44	91.7	68	73.1
Consciousness of oral health management because of dialysis treatment
Yes	18	37.5	15	16.1	0.005
No	30	62.5	78	83.9
Having a primary dentist
Yes	46	95.8	68	73.1	0.001
No	2	4.2	25	26.9

¹n: Total number of subjects corresponding to each answer;

²%: The percentage of subjects who answered “receive a dental check-up” or “not receive a dental check-up”.

Table 5 Factors associated with receiving dental check-ups, according to binominal logistic regression analysis¹ (n = 141)

Variable	OR	95%CI	P-value
Consciousness of oral health management because of dialysis treatment	3.241	1.298-8.125	0.012	Number of teeth	2.361	1.060-5.258	0.035	Possession of denture	4.209	1.271-13.933	0.019	Having a primary dentist	6.138	1.279-29.456	0.023	Gum swelling/bleeding	5.831	1.659-20.499	0.006

¹Binominal logistic regression analysis was conducted using each of five variables as the dependent variable.