Awareness Levels About Specialty Services Offered by the Faculty of Dentistry in Sebha, Libya

• Published in: Curēus (Palo Alto, CA) Vol. 16; no. 4; p. e58557
• Main Authors: Sethuraman, Sathya, Peeran, Syed Wali, Ramalingam, Karthikeyan, Alzaroug Jaber, Aesa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Springer Nature B.V 18.04.2024; Cureus
• Subjects: Age; Chronic illnesses; Decision making; Dental health; Dentistry; Education; Ethics; Gender; Health care delivery; Health literacy; Interviews; Medical Education; Oral cancer; Patient satisfaction; Perceptions; Performance evaluation; Public Health; Questionnaires; Self employment; Libya; specialty; awareness; dental; dental practice; patients satisfaction; southern region; oral health; sebha; dental-education; libya
• ISSN: 2168-8184; 2168-8184
• DOI: 10.7759/cureus.58557

Assessment of awareness levels about any hospital is critical to judge its current standings and plan for future development. Limited literature is available about dental health in Libya. This study aimed to study the awareness and perception of the various specialty services offered by the Faculty of Dentistry (SDC), Sebha University for their quality and preference. It was a performance monitoring research, and the data was collected by interview using a standardized questionnaire. Non-probability judgmental sampling was used. The offered services included all specialties in dentistry and oral cancer screening. Information relating to the awareness and perception of SDC specialty services was collected with few agree/disagree questions from 450 subjects. Data was collected, tabulated, and analyzed with descriptive statistics using SPSS v23.0 (IBM, Armonk, NY, USA). About 22.7% (n=102) were in the 45-54 years age group. Self-employed (n=108, 24%) and professional (n=108, 24%) were noted in occupation. Forty-eight (n=216) were graduates. Three hundred twenty-eight respondents (72.9%) were aware about the dental services. Four hundred twenty-eight respondents (95.1%) have visited SDC. Three hundred six respondents (68%) were satisfied, and 66 respondents (14.7%) were very much satisfied. Dental health checkups were predominantly known to the respondents (n=302, 67%). For all the other specialties, the awareness level was low. The identification of weak areas is crucial for the future planning and development of oral health care rendered by SDC.