Table 3.

Participants’ quotes

Facilitators of Oral Health	Barriers to Oral Health Care	Recommendations for Intervention Strategies
Positive Experiences	Fear	“Good visual aids as far as to be able to show them actual pictures or me personally if I see something then I’ll understand.”
“Another dentist that I went to before. He was really gentle. He let me know exactly what he was doing. It hurt, but I knew what he was doing.”	“And, I haven’t had a real bad experience. I made the experience bad for myself. Cause I had a fear of going to the dentist.”
“I really just didn’t want to look at any dentist, you know because with having the problem with the teeth, it was causing me to have bad breath, I stopped, I was very upset until the other day when finally I find someone relief in a dentist that I am going to now.”	“I just had the fear of dentist. And I knew if I took care of my teeth the way it should, get it done, cleaned every six months. Then that would keep me from the dentist.”	“I mean you don’t just give this long reading from this paper and yaddydya and using these words we don’t understand. Instead of getting up there and tell what you have to do. Brush here, floss there. And don’t take too long.“
“Yea, my, the best experience I’ve ever had? I don’t know, any of’em is good [All my experiences were good].”	“Well, my fear is needles. I’m terrified of needles. That’s my problem.”
“My best experience going to the dentist as a younger person was getting a lollypop when I get into the office.”	“Cause I had a fear of going to the dentist. I would have a toothache and I wouldn’t go to the dentist. I’d doctor it myself.”	“I would prefer someone with the train, a professional versus somebody in the community.”
Modeling	Access	“I think somebody here [from the community] trained [in oral health]. Cause we know our people, and we relate better to our people. Cause getting other folks [from outside the community], we’re afraid sometime.”
“Maybe if you start taking children [to the dentist] at a young age and let them grow up in it [in the dental office]. I went as a child, and I was always afraid of needles when I used to go to a dentist, but I go back, cause it’s important, I know it’s important”	“That’s a big thing out here. A lot of people don’t have transportation. They can’t get there themselves. They can’t get the children there, so nobody goes. “
“I think children follow by example if they know mommy and daddy goes to the dentist; mommy and daddy brush. Well, I’m going to do the same thing. Most kids follow what the parents do, whether it’s good or bad.”	“Sometime, it’s the distance that they have to go to make it to the dentist.”
	Cultural Beliefs
	“Culturally, and growing up at my grandmother’s house, there’s always a philosophy, if not broken, don’t fix it. And a lot times they just don’t go if nothing is bothering them. And that’s just a cultural thing. And I believe that’s the biggest thing that keeps a lot of people from going.”