Adult dental visits in California: successes and challenges.
OBJECTIVE
This study sought to estimate and characterize the proportion of California adults who visited a dentist in the preceding year and to identify reasons for not going.


METHODS
In 1995, 4,029 adults were interviewed by telephone as part of the California Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Items included recentness of a dental visit, dental insurance status, and number of teeth lost due to disease. Persons who had not seen a dentist within the preceding year were asked the main reason they had not gone.


RESULTS
In 1995, 65.9% of adults reported visiting a dentist in the preceding twelve months. Use of dental services was greater among persons aged 35 years or older (70.4%) than among those aged 18-34 years (58.4%) and among those with dental insurance (74.9%) than those without (54.4%). Dental visits were less likely among adults living at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level, those with less than a high school education, and the edentulous. Reasons most commonly cited for not seeing a dentist were no perceived reason to go (37.2%), cost (30.7%), and fear (9.2%).


CONCLUSIONS
Substantial variation in use of dental services exists among California's adults. Achieving equity in access and opportunity for disease prevention in this state may require expanded dental insurance coverage and serious efforts in oral health promotion.
Tomar
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SL
Department of Dental Public Health and Hygiene, University of California-San Francisco School of Dentistry, USA. slt4@cdc.gov
Azevedo
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AB
Lawson
R
R
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D016854:Dental Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology; D003729:Dental Care / Q000191:economics / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006293:Health Promotion; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D007347:Insurance, Dental / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009066:Mouth, Edentulous / Q000453:epidemiology; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011203:Poverty; D012307:Risk Factors; D012923:Social Class; D016388:Tooth Loss / Q000453:epidemiology