Community Dental Health

cover art

Cover Date:
December 2011
Print ISSN:
0265 539X
Vol:
28
Issue:
4

The relationship between dental care and perceived oral health impacts

Background: Knowledge of the effect of dental care and dental visiting behavior on oral health impacts is important for effective resource allocation. Objective: To determine the association between dental care, including the reason for dental attendance and time since last dental visit, with perceived oral health impacts among Australian adults. Methods: Data were obtained from the Australian National Survey of Adult Oral Health 2004/06. Analysis was limited to 4,170 dentate adults who answered the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14) questions. Prevalence of frequent impacts was defined as the percentage of people reporting ‘fairly often’ or ‘very often’ to one or more of the OHIP-14 questions. Results: Over half the dentate Australians (63.0%) visited a dentist in the past year. Unadjusted analysis showed a statistically significant association between the prevalence of frequent impacts and receipt of: extractions (prevalence ratio=1.7, 95%CI=1.22.2), scale/clean (0.7, 0.5-0.8), and denture care (1.6 1.1-2.4). After adjustment for the usual reason for dental attendance there was no effect of any of the three treatments or the time since last visit on the prevalence of frequent impacts. Conclusion: The usual reason for dental attendance, and not the time since last visit or the type of dental care supplied, accounted for differences in perceived oral health impacts.

Key words: dental care/utilization, dental health surveys, oral health, outcome assessment, health care, quality of life

Article Price
£15.00
Institution Article Price
£
Page Start
259
Page End
264
Authors
L.A. Crocombe, D.S. Brennan, G.D. Slade

Articles from this issue

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  1. Editorial - Early Childhood Caries: a complex problem requiring a complex intervention
  2. 254
  3. 254

  1. Why has oral health promotion and prevention failed children requiring general anaesthesia for dental extractions?
  2. 255
  3. 258

  1. The relationship between dental care and perceived oral health impacts
  2. 259
  3. 264

  1. Is the shortened dental arch an underused treatment strategy in the Republic of Ireland?
  2. 265
  3. 268

  1. Predictors of utilisation of dental care services in a nationally representative sample of adults
  2. 269
  3. 273

  1. Applicability of both dentist and patient perceptions of dentists’ explanations to the evaluation of dentist–patient communication
  2. 274
  3. 279

  1. Oral health behaviour of urban and semi-urban schoolchildren in the Lao PDR
  2. 280
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  1. Evaluation of a preventive program based on caries risk among mentally challenged children using the Cariogram model
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  3. 291

  1. The effect of a modified fluoride toothpaste technique on buccal enamel caries in adults with high caries prevalence: a 2-year clinical trial
  2. 292
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  1. Association of clinical oral health status with self-rated oral health and GOHAI in Japanese adults
  2. 297
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  1. Prevalence of periodontopathogens in a black Brazilian secluded community matched with a black urban population
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  1. Association of pulp stones with coronary artery stenosis
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  1. Incisor trauma in a Turkish preschool population: Prevalence and socio-economic risk factors
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  1. Malocclusion and orthodontic treatment need measured by the Dental Aesthetic Index and its association with dental caries in Indian schoolchildren
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