Journal of Health Sciences & Surveillance System

The association between dental insurance coverage, socio-economic status and use of dental care in adolescents

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Ali Golkari 1
Mehrdad Vossoughi 2
Mahsa Mohammadi 3
Arghavan Behbahanirad 4
Maryam Bakhtiar 4

1 PhD of Dental Public Health, Oral and Dental Disease Research Center, Department of Dental Public Health, School of Dentistry, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

2 Assistant of Professor, PhD of Biostatistics, Oral and Dental Disease Research Center, Department of Dental Public Health, School of Dentistry, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

3 Dentist, Shiraz, Iran

4 Department of Dental Public Health, School of Dentistry, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

https://doi.org/10.30476/jhsss.2019.81462.1001
Abstract
Background: Several items affect the use of dental services. The objective of this study was to assess the association between socio-economic status (SES) and dental insurance coverage with the use of dental services amongst Iranian adolescents aged 13-15 years old.
Methods: In this cross sectional study, we used a researcher-made questionnaire to assess the association between socio-economic status (SES) and dental insurance coverage with the use of dental services in 423 Iranian adolescents aged 13-15 years old. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze the data, generate descriptive statistics, and perform multiple logistic regressions.
Results: Use of dental services was statistically significant amongst the students with dental insurance and parents with higher income (P<0.001), which was independent of the other socio-economic factors (parent’s age, education and marital status).
Conclusion: The results showed that one of the important policies to reduce inequality in dental care is to improve dental insurance coverage.

Keywords

Socio-economic status
insurance
dental care
Adolescent
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 https://doi.org/10.5812/ircmj.11810
Journal of Health Sciences & Surveillance System
Volume 6, Issue 3
July 2018
Pages 149-154

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