Proactive Dental Care Services in Chai Badan District Prison, Chai Badan District, Lopburi Province

Abstract

The objectives of this action research were to 1) assess oral health status among inmates in Chai Badan District Prison to plan for dental services, 2) develop a dental service model by dental personnel team from Chai Badan hospital, and 3) evaluate the dental services developed for inmates in Chai Badan District Prison. The target group was comprised of 901 inmates in Chai Badan District Prison. Quantitative data were collected from the inmates during December 2020 and January 2021. The data were analyzed using percentages, means, standard deviations for the descriptive statistics and paired sample t-test for the inferential statistics. Significant level was set at p=0.01.

The results showed that 1) The vast majority of Chai Badan District Prison inmates were males (n=866, 90.56%) while there are a few female inmates (n=85, 9.44%) with an average age of 34.42 years old. Inmates in Zone B had the highest oral health problems (DMFT=7.7 teeth)/person) and needed immediate dental services as compared to inmates from other territories,  2) the inmates’ knowledge in oral health care level increased significantly at the p=0.01, when comparing between before and after receiving dental services, and 3) inmates in Chai Badan District Prison had an increase in the number of screening services (100%) and dental treatment services (72.6%), which were higher than the indicator’s target set by the Ministry of Public Health.