TY - JOUR A1 - Bose, Sreekanth A1 - Yashoda, R A1 - Puranik, Manjunath T1 - Access to public dental care services by differently abled children in Bengaluru City: A cross-sectional study Y1 - 2020/1/1 JF - Journal of Indian Association of Public Health Dentistry JO - J Indian Assoc Public Health Dent SP - 77 EP - 82 VL - 18 IS - 1 UR - https://journals.lww.com/aphd/pages/default.aspx/article.asp?issn=2319-5932;year=2020;volume=18;issue=1;spage=77;epage=82;aulast=Bose DO - 10.4103/jiaphd.jiaphd_44_19 N2 - Background: Oral health is an important aspect of health for all children and is all the more important for differently abled who face unique challenges during routine dental care. Aim: To assess and compare the perceptions of dental health officers and parents of differentially abled children regarding architectural, geographical, organizational, and communicational accessibility of the public dental services. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 100 parents of differently abled children and 15 dental health officers working in government hospitals under the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Karnataka, from June to October 2017, in Bengaluru city. Differently abled children with locomotor, speech and hearing, and visual and cognitive disabilities aged 6–12 years were included. A structured self-administered questionnaire was used to evaluate the perceptions regarding architectural, geographical, organizational, and communicational accessibility of the public dental services. Descriptive and analytical statistics was done. A P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Higher proportion of dental health officers compared to parents of differentially abled children had a positive perception regarding architectural, geographical, organizational, and communicational accessibility of public dental services. Finding a dentist willing to treat was the most difficult barrier according to the parents of differently abled children (52.6%) and dental health officers (46.66%). Conclusion: A higher proportion of dental health officers compared to parents of differentially abled children had a positive perception regarding architectural, geographical, organizational, and communicational accessibility of the public dental services. ER -