الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
The Egyptian health care system is quite complex with a large number of public entities involved in management, financing and provision of care. The primary care is represented as the base of the pyramid of health care. The Egyptian Ministry of Health is undertaking an ambitious Health Sector Reform (HSR) to progress towards health indicators and to address new health challenges by establishing a new system of family based primary health care ’’Family Health Model’’ which focuses on improving referral system between integrated consolidation Family Health Clinics (FHUs), Family Health Centers (FHCs), and District Hospitals. On the other hand, Maternal and Child Health Clinics (MCH) showed conversion in last few years into Family Health Clinics (FH).
The present study compared primary dental care provided in FH versus MCH clinics and dentist’s perceptions about them to distinguish whether the operationalization of this new system was successfully implemented or needs further improvement.
A total of 120 dentist participated in an observational comparative cross sectional study by fulfilling a self-administered questionnaire, at the same time the research used check lists to evaluate all MCH clinics distributed in three districts (Montaza, Middle, Amreyya) and a comparison group of FH clinics per each district with a ratio 1 MCH clinic: 2 FH using and.
Results revealed no significant difference between FH and MCH dentists regarding age and education level. On the other hand, significantly greater percent of participating FH dentists were males and working full time.
FH clinics significantly had a good structure considering the equipment, the nursing qualifications, updated training and continuous education system for staff. MCH services were significantly preferred by dentists regarding availability, accessibility, affordability, and timeliness. Drug description was the most significant service in FH clinics as it was the least price service while pedodontics was the most significant service in MCH which was in harmony with MCH goals that focus on mother and child only.
Research reflected massive need to conduct further studies to assess dental services, dentist’s performance, practical application of FH standards, and suggest areas of improvement in FH system. Until that time, it is recommended to continue providing MCH services parallel to FH services to assure primary dental care delivery until the FH system integrated comprehensively with other MOH systems to reach all Egyptian population.