No-shows for scheduled appointments are a frequent occurrence, creating unused appointment slots and reducing patient quality of care and access to services while increasing loss to follow-up and medical costs. The aim of our study was to determine the factors that lead to patients missing their dental appointments in Eastern Province Military Hospitals, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The study population included military personnel and their families attending the dental clinics of these hospitals. In our study, the percentage of missed appointments was 58.1%, while 54.4% of participants canceled dental appointments in the past. Thirty-six percent preferred morning appointments while 56% preferred an afternoon appointment and were likely to miss a morning appointment if given one. The most common reasons for missing an appointment were forgetting about it (24.3%) and the inability to get time off either from work or school (15.4%); 1.5% of patients stated they had a bad dental experience and feared dental treatment while the unavailability of transport accounted for 0.7% of patients. Of the reasons given for canceling an appointment, the inability to get time off from work/school was the most common (22.1%) while a dislike for treatment was the least common (0.7%). Canceling an appointment was significantly correlated with missing an appointment among the surveyed sample (P=0.00). In our research, 60.3% of participants still relied on their personal diary to remember appointments, which could be a reason for the high rate of missed appointments. Fifty-nine percent of respondents felt that missing an appointment was important to them, while 72% stated that missed appointments could affect the work of the clinic but still believed that automatic appointments should be given to patients who missed them and a change be made accordingly. Since major factors included a lack of a reminder message and appointments scheduled at inconvenient timings, some steps that can help reduce the frequency of missed appointments include sending a reminder message to patients, giving preference to their schedules for appointments, giving patients shorter appointments, reducing intervals between subsequent appointments, and educating patients regarding the treatment plan, to reduce anxiety.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify and assess the significance of various factors affecting maintenance costs of public school facilities. Design/methodology/approach Detailed literature review resulted in identifying 54 factors that were categorized under nine groups. This was followed by a questionnaire survey completed by 60 experienced professionals. The relative importance index was used to determine the in-group ranking, as well as the overall ranking of these factors. Findings The study established that the five most significant factors affecting the maintenance cost of public school facilities were “not providing operations and maintenance manuals to maintenance group” in the “construction phase” category, “ignoring maintainability studies in design” in the “design phase” category, “specification of low-quality materials” in the “design phase” category, “selection criteria of contractors” in the “regulations and contracting” category, and “lack of quality control during work execution” in the “construction phase” category. Originality/value The present research represents the first research covering the maintenance cost of public school facilities in Saudi Arabia. The study also presents the unique landscape of facility maintenance in the Saudi Arabian context. The outcome of this research has the potential to significantly cut down unnecessary costs rooted in expensive maintenance of public school facilities, enhancing the quality of these facilities. The findings also underscore the necessity of collaboration and coordination of the various key disciplines toward the realization of cost-effective school facilities.

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Forensic odontology plays a significant role in victim identification among the disasters of multiple fatalities or various murders or burns. It requires adequate teeth remains after the accident and dental records availability to succeed. Purpose: To evaluate the Awareness level of the role of dental charting and dental records in human identification amongst Saudi dental practitioners. Study Design: Descriptive Cross sectional study. Methodology: Present study enrolled 200 participants involving both genders. A self-administered questionnaire related to role of charting dental anomalies in human identification was uploaded online. Informed written consent was taken. Unwilling participants were excluded. Tatistical Analysis: The responses were carried out using the “pivot tables” option in Microsoft Excel (2016). Results: A total of 200 participants completed the survey male participants 74 (37%) were less than female participants 126 (63%). Almost 70% of respondents think that maintaining dental records/files can be forensically or medico-legally important. Low of knowledge was evident in different aspects of forensic dentistry.54%think teeth can be used as a primary source of identification of an individual (like DNA or fingerprints) while 46% considered it not. Conclusion: This study concluded that there was poor awareness among the dental practitioners and the poor of awareness can lead to improper human identification. Key Words: Forensic Odontology, Awearness, Attitude and Dental Practices.