title: Dental service utilization by Europeans aged 50 plus.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe variations in the utilization of dental services by persons aged 50+ from 14 European countries and to identify the extent to which such variations are attributable to differences in oral health need and in accessibility of dental care.
  
  
  METHODS
  We use data from the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE Waves 2 and 3) and estimate a series of multivariate logistic regression models to analyze variations in dental service utilization (overall dental attendance, preventive treatment and/or operative treatment, dental attendance in early life years)
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall dental attendance and incidence of solely preventive treatment are comparatively high in the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland. In contrast, overall dental attendance is relatively low in Spain, Italy, France, Greece, Poland, and Ireland. Moreover, a high incidence of solely operative treatment is observed in Austria, Italy, and France, whereas in the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, and Ireland, the incidence of solely operative treatment is comparably low. By and large, these variations persist even when controlling for cross-country differences in oral health need and in accessibility of dental care.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In comparison with other European regions, there is a tendency toward more frequent and preventive dental treatment of the elderly populations residing in Scandinavia and Western Europe. Such utilization patterns appear only partially attributable to differences in need for and accessibility of dental care.
authors: Department of Conservative Dentistry, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany. stefan.listl@med.uni-heidelberg.de
authors: Stefan
authors: S
authors: Listl
authors: Valerie
authors: V
authors: Moran
authors: Jürgen
authors: J
authors: Maurer
authors: Clovis M
authors: CM
authors: Faggion
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003752:Dental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020380:Needs Assessment; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011313:Preventive Dentistry / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012737:Sex Factors