The Effects of Social Class and Dental Attendance on Oral Health

Abstract

The relationship between socio-economic status (SES) and oral health is well-established. We investigated whether the association between SES and the number of sound teeth in adults is explained by dental attendance patterns, in turn determined by the effect of SES on barriers to dental attendance. Data on 3817 participants from the 1998 Adult Dental Health Survey in the UK were analyzed. Using structural equation modeling, we found a model with 4 factors (aging, SES, attendance-profile, and barriers-to-dental-attendance) providing an adequate fit to the covariance matrix of the 9 covariates. The final model suggests that the association between SES and the number of sound teeth in adults in the UK is partially explained by the pathway [SES --> barriers-to-dental-attendance --> dental-attendance-profile --> number-of-sound-teeth]. A direct relationship, SES --> number-of-sound-teeth, is also significant.

Tooth Loss in Problem-oriented, Irregular, and Regular Attenders at Dental Offices

“…The oral health status of the POAs in the present study, therefore, may have been better than that of POAs in previous studies 3,24,25) . Previous studies have suggested that low socioeconomic status is a barrier to dental attendance, and that such barriers appear to have a negative effect on oral health 13,18) . Although universal healthcare insurance covers dental prostheses in Japan, individual financial status is associated with use of such 19,32) .…”

Changes in dental health investment across the adolescent years

“…A positive relationship between dental attendance and oral health has been observed elsewhere. 9,10 Furthermore, NICE guidance recommends dental attendance every 3-12 months for patients less than 18-years-old, 11 as frequent dental attendance provides dentists the opportunity to deliver and reinforce preventive advice and to promote the importance of good oral health. Hence, dental registration provides a valid, albeit imperfect, measure of investment in dental health.…”

Factors associated with Regular Dental Attendance among White-collar Workers

“…We selected gender, age and family income as adjustment factors as these factors have been reported to be associated with regular dental attendance [2,4,[6][7][8][9][10][11]. Moreover, work environment [14,15], lifestyle [16][17][18] and oral hygiene behaviour [19,20] were included as questionnaire components because these factors have been reported as factors associated with dental diseases or regular dental attendance.…”

“…Regular dental attendance has been reported to be associated with better oral status and oral health-related quality of life [1][2][3][4][5]. Thomson et al reported that long-term routine dental attendance would be related to better self-reported oral health and less tooth loss and cavities in a prospective cohort study in New Zealand that examined 932 participants from the age of 15 years till the age of 32 years [5].…”

“…Although gender, age and income have been reported as associated factors with regular dental attendance [2,4,[6][7][8][9][10][11], few reports have discussed a relationship between work environment, lifestyle and oral hygiene behaviour. Factors such as gender, age and income are difficult to control.…”