Health Belief Model and Dentistry Article Summary - Assignment Example

The model is useful in predicting behavioral changes that influence dental care or are influenced by dental care actions. The model not only identifies such behavioral changes but also provides explanations of the causes of the behavior changes and possible belief patterns associated with changes. According to Flair, Younis, Benjamin, and Al Hajeri (2010), HBM can be applied as a psychosocial model to understand and predict perceptions, beliefs, and cognitive patterns that affect the accessibility of dental care services among underserved populations.

The application of the HBM model in this study underpins the cultural, socioeconomic, and environmental factors that influence people’s ability and willingness to access dental care. Limited knowledge about behaviors that predispose individuals to dental diseases has been identified as a major contributing factor to poor dental health (Flair, Younis, Benjamin & Al Hajeri, 2010). Other factors identified as influential in process of seeking dental care include pain and fear of advanced stages of the dental conditions.

Pain and fear of worse conditions associated with dental diseases have been found to play a critical role in the development of dental health beliefs. The two factors can as well as deter people from seeking dental care especially when a person suspects tooth removal as the most likely intervention. At the same time, the study also establishes that the need to prevent tooth loss and prevent other conditions such as severe gum infection motivates people to seek dental care. The model further establishes that the socioeconomic status of the people is another belief that influences the accessibility of dental care with a significant number of people believing that dental care services are for those with high family income.

The study provides recommendations to deal with the decreased access to dental care including the need to offer dental services to the underserved in form of community service. The community approach in the delivery of dental care services has been identified with other benefits other than increasing the number of people gaining access to dental care including changing dentists’ attitudes towards the poor and acting as a source of motivation for volunteers to engage the community in promoting general oral health (Flair, Younis, Benjamin & Al Hajeri, 2010).

It is also proposed that dental care units should collaborate with local institutions such as local schools, universities, and health facilities to enhance the accessibility of both knowledge and dental care services to underserved populations. The application of HBM predicts and relates dental health behaviors, revealing different patterns of beliefs with susceptibility to dental disease emerging as major beliefs that influence the underserved people’s decision to seek dental care services.

Other factors influencing the behavior changes among the underserved populations identified in this study include attitudes, values, and culture (Flair, Younis, Benjamin & Al Hajeri, 2010). In conclusion, HBM emerges to be the impetus in the understanding of behavioral changes in dental care and factors that may promote or discourage people from seeking dental care.