Challenges of Iranian Adolescents for Preventing Dental Caries

BACKGROUND: Oral health plays a vital role in people’s general health and well-being. With regard to the costly treatments of oral diseases, preventive programs need to be designed for dental caries based on children’s perspectives. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to describe and explore challenges for caring dental health based on children’s perspectives. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A qualitative design with content analysis approach was applied to collect and analyze the perspectives of students about factors influencing oral and dental care. Eighteen Iranian students in 8 guidance schools were chosen through the purposive sampling. Semi-structured interviews were held for data gathering. In order to support the validity and rigor of the data, different criteria such as acceptability, confirmability, and transferability were utilized. RESULTS: During data analysis, four main themes developed: “barriers to dental health,” “maintaining dental health,” “uncertainty in decision-making” and “supportive factors”. “Uncertainty in decision-making” and “barriers to dental health” were the main challenges for preventing dental caries among adolescents. CONCLUSIONS: “Certainty in decision-making” to maintain dental health depends on overcoming the barriers of dental health. Further research is needed to confirm the findings of this study.