Patients' perceptions of the decision‐making process leading to extraction of permanent teeth in Norway

Abstract

Extraction is the final step in a continuous process in which oral health-related factors and psycho-social processes play a role. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the patient's perception of the decision-making process leading to the extraction of permanent teeth and to determine whether and how patient-associated characteristics might influence who made the decision to extract and if the patients felt they had any influence on the dentist's decision. A national random sample of Norwegian dentists (n = 500) recorded reasons for tooth extraction during a period of 2 weeks in 1988. A total of 437 patients responded (73%), of whom 54% were women. Nearly 33% of the respondents stated that it was their own decision to extract, while about two thirds said that the dentist had suggested extraction. Whether the dentist or the patient made the decision to extract teeth was significantly influenced by the patient's dental attendance pattern, place of residence, number of teeth and belief in retention of his/her own teeth for life (P < 0.05). There was no significant bivariate effect of patients' age, sex, educational level, or score on Corah's Dental Anxiety Scale on who made the decision to extract. Only 0.4% of patients said that family, friends or colleagues had influenced the decision to have teeth extracted. A logistic regression analysis with: "Was it the dentist or the patient who made the suggestion to extract teeth?" as the dependent variable, and the four bivariately significant independent variables showed for all patients that none had a significant effect.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Socio-behavioral predictors of changes in dentition status: a prospective analysis of the 1942 Swedish birth cohort

“…(28), low SES people are less likely than their higher SES counterparts to seek dental care regularly, but they are at increased risk of having teeth extracted once they do. The present finding seems to be consistent with the notion that as low SES subjects are more likely to seek dental care only in response to dental symptoms, they are less likely to receive alternative treatments to tooth removal (32). The 1942 cohort has benefitted from highly subsidized fees for all kinds of treatment by the Swedish Public Dental Health services built up during the 1940s and 1950s and from the Swedish National Dental Health Insurance initiated in 1974, with special focus of making good dentistry available to all citizens.…”

Edentulism among Finnish adults of working age, 1978–1997

“…Socioeconomic determinants of total tooth loss have also been analyzed by multivariate models and reported to have importance in Finland (39,40), Sweden (11,12,41) and the United States (29,42). In a Norwegian study it was concluded that the only patient characteristic having a significant effect on the decision to extract was educational level (43). The role of urbanization diminished in our material between 1978 and 1997.…”

Tooth loss and associated risk indicators in an adult urban population from south Brazil

“…An association between tooth loss and poor economy was also shown in a Chinese population [36]. Moreover, education has been associated with tooth loss [2,3,14,36,40], and it has been shown that educational level is significantly associated with the type of decision regarding tooth extraction [41]. Subjects with higher level of education and better economy are more likely to afford check-ups and conservative dental treatment and to retain their teeth.…”