Determinants of dental service utilization among adults--the case of Finland.
We examine the determinants of utilization of dentists' services and especially the role of supply factors in the decision-making processes of utilization, using data from the Finnish Health Care Survey of 1996. In a two-part model, care-seeking is modeled by a bivariate probit model taking into account dentist's recall, whereas the number of positive visits to the dentist is modeled by a zero-truncated negative binomial model. Recall turns out to be a central determinant of care-seeking and is significantly related to variables like income and unemployment. Socioeconomic variables are controlled for as well and are found to be important determinants.
Nguyen
Lien
L
Centre for Health Economics - CHESS, National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health (STAKES), Lintulahdenkuja 4, P.O. Box 220, FIN-00531 Helsinki, Finland. lien.nguyen@stakes.fi
Häkkinen
Unto
U
Rosenqvist
Gunnar
G
D000328:Adult; D003752:Dental Health Services / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017059:Models, Econometric; D008962:Models, Theoretical