title: Geographical accessibility to dental care in the Japanese elderly.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The current research aims to clarify the factors relevant to elderly people's access to dental care in Japan, particularly focusing on geographical accessibility.
  
  
  METHODS
  The sample was taken from among the Japanese elderly, aged 65 and over, who responded to a postal survey conducted in 2003 (n = 2,192). Six types of geographical accessibility to the dental clinics were calculated using Geographic Information Systems. Logistic regression analysis was conducted using 'having a regular dentist' as a dependent variable and geographical accessibility as an explanatory variable.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results showed an association between having a regular dentist and geographical accessibility only for females. In the univariate model, distance to the closest dental clinics (OR = 0.62 (95% CI: 0.43-0.90)), number of dental clinics at the school district level (OR = 1.14 (95% CI: 1.03-1.26)), number of dental clinics at the municipality level (OR = 1.02 (95% CI: 1.00-1.05)), and density distribution of dental clinics (OR = 1.56 (95% CI: 1.11-2.19)) showed significant relations with having a regular dentist. After controlling for demographic, socioeconomic, and health related variables, only the density distribution of dental clinics showed significant relations at the 5% level, although distance and number of dental clinics kept a marginal significance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The current study verifies that geographical accessibility correlates with access to dental care among women, and that there were large gender differences concerning the issue of geographical access.
authors.affiliation: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Research Center for Disaster Mitigation of Urban Cultural Heritage, Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, Japan. info@hanibuchi.com
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hanibuchi
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Aida
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakade
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hirai
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kondo
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003729:Dental Care; D003740:Dental Clinics; D003815:Dentists; D003817:Dentition; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000145:classification*; D018577:Homebound Persons; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D057187:Independent Living; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status; D008603:Mental Health; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors; D012923:Social Class; D016388:Tooth Loss / Q000145:classification