Influence of self-perceived oral health and socioeconomic predictors on the utilization of dental care services by schoolchildren

• Autor(a) principal: Piovesan,Chaiana
• Data de Publicação: 2011
• Outros Autores: Antunes,José Leopoldo Ferreira, Guedes,Renata Saraiva, Ardenghi,Thiago Machado
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Brazilian Oral Research
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1806-83242011000200008
• topic: Dental Health Service; Socioeconomic Factors; Dental Caries

The influence of socioeconomic factors and self-rated oral health on children's dental health assistance was assessed. This study followed a cross-sectional design, with a multistage random sample of 792 12-year-old schoolchildren from Santa Maria, a city in southern Brazil. A dental examination provided information on the prevalence of dental caries (DMFT index). Data about the use of dental service, socioeconomic status, and self-perceived oral health were collected by means of structured interviews. These associations were assessed using Poisson regression models (prevalence ratio; 95% confidence interval). The prevalence of regular use of dental service was 47.8%. Children from low socioeconomic backgrounds and those who rated their oral health as "poor" used the service less frequently. The distribution of the kind of oral healthcare assistance used (public/private) varied across socioeconomic groups. The better-off children were less likely to have used the public service. Clinical, socioeconomic, and psychosocial factors were strong predictors for the utilization of dental care services by schoolchildren.