Portuguese dentists’ attitudes towards their role in addressing obesity

Abstract

Aim or purpose: as the incidence of obesity continues to rise in Portugal, health care providers must coordinate prevention and interventional efforts for maximum effect. Materials and methods: to translate and validate the original version of the Dentists’ Role In Addressing Obesity questionnaire from English into Portuguese, provide cultural adaptation for Portuguese dentists and apply the questionnaire to a random sample of 400 Portuguese dentists. Results: in all, 141 dentists responded. Overall, 22.0 percent of respondents offered a form of counseling services and 58.9 percent reported that they were interested in offering obesity-related services. A paucity of trained personnel (58.9 percent) was cited by the respondents as a major barrier, followed by patients’ rejection of weight-loss advice (32.6 percent) and fears of offending patients (29.1 percent). Ninety-two percent of respondents agreed that dentists would be more willing to intervene if obesity was linked to oral disease. Conclusions: health care providers must coordinate prevention and interventional efforts for maximum effect. Given the positioning of dentists willing to assist in such an effort, it appears reasonable for experts in obesity intervention in conjunction with dental educators, to develop intervention models to be implemented within the scope of dental practice.