Journal of Dental Research, Vol 80, 1471-1474, Copyright © 2001 by International & American Associations for Dental Research Online Journals
Utilization of dental services in Southern China
E. C. Lo, H. C. Lin, Z. J. Wang, M. C. Wong and E. Schwarz
Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Prince Philip Dental Hospital.
A population's utilization of dental services is an important parameter in
oral health care planning, which has rarely been studied in China. The
objectives of this report were to describe the dental service utilization
pattern of middle-aged and elderly Chinese and to analyze the influence of
selected variables on the use of dental services. A Guangdong Province
population of 1,573 35- to 44-year-olds and 1,515 65- to 74-year-olds
recruited from urban and rural communities was interviewed in their local
dialect. It was found that 23% of the middle-aged and 24% of the elderly
subjects had visited a dentist within the preceding year. The two most
commonly cited reasons for not having seen a dentist for at least 3 years
were: no perceived need, and no serious dental problems. Among subjects who
had visited a dentist within 3 years, the 3 most commonly received
treatments were: fillings, extractions, and dental prostheses. Furthermore,
a logistic regression analysis showed that women, subjects who lived in
urban areas, were better educated, were wealthier, and had better oral
health knowledge were more likely to be a recent dental service user. In
conclusion, dental service utilization among the adult Southern Chinese was
found to be low, problem-driven, and influenced by some socio-economic
factors.
