In the United States, vulnerable populations at highest risk for poor oral health are more likely to visit a physician than a dentist. Patients in acute dental pain often present to hospital emergency departments or primary care offices where only palliative care is available. While numerous measures to improve oral health access in the United States are necessary, the authors propose that phys...

BACKGROUND Based on the hypothesis that a vicious cycle of dental fear exists, whereby the consequences of fear tend to maintain that fear, the relationship between dental fear, self-reported oral health status and the use of dental services was explored. METHODS The study used a telephone interview survey with interviews predominantly conducted in 2002. A random sample of 6,112 Australian re...

BACKGROUND The Northern Finland 1966 birth cohort (NFBC 1966) is an epidemiological study where the participants have been controlled since pregnancy both in field tests and using questionnaires. This study aimed to evaluate cross-sectionally the association of self-reported oral symptoms (dental caries and bleeding of gums) with sociodemographic and health behavior factors among the subjects. ...

OBJECTIVE One of the goals of Indonesian health policy is 'Health for All'; this includes dental health care. Therefore, it is important to continually evaluate and dynamically assess the effects of government policies, particularly whether these policies promote or obstruct social justice. This study is intended to describe the need for and utilisation of dental care and how disparities in den...

INTRODUCTION Dementia may be associated with discontinuation of regular dental checkups, which in turn results in poorer oral health. METHODS We investigated the trend of change in dental care utilization and the number of teeth before and after being diagnosed with dementia. Longitudinal cognitive- and dental health-related information were merged using data on 58,037 newly diagnosed individ...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to investigate whether planning a dental appointment is a predictor of actual dental visits over a one-year period when controlling for past attendance, demographic factors, and dental health beliefs. In addition, the planning-attendance association was explored to determine whether dental anxiety and educational status moderated this relationship. METHODS...

BACKGROUND Dental care is extremely costly and beyond most people means in developing countries. The primary aim of this study was to determine the impact of out-of-pocket payments for dental care on household finances in 40 low and middle income countries. A second aim was to compare the burden of payments for dental care with that for other health services. METHODS We used data from 174,257...

Ensuring access to dental care, particularly for children, is a significant policy concern in the United States. Many factors affect access on both the provider and patient sides. This study examines an important factor in the ability to access dental care: the distribution and availability of dental health providers. The authors assess providers across the counties of Pennsylvania, primarily u...

INTRODUCTION The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between oral health knowledge and dental visits of older adults in an Appalachian county. METHODS A cross-sectional study design was used. Surveys were returned from 205 older adults (50 years and above) from an Appalachian county. Questions were asked about oral health, last dental visit and sociodemographics. RESUL...

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between early dental experiences and clinical indicators of oral health and dental anxiety upon admission to a comprehensive oral health program for six-year-old children in Chile. METHODS One hundred twenty-nine six-year-old children were enrolled in the Recreo Family Health Center of the Municipality of San Miguel, Santiago,...