The relationship between dental care and perceived oral health impacts.
BACKGROUND
Knowledge of the effect of dental care and dental visiting behavior on oral health impacts is important for effective resource allocation.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the association between dental care, including the reason for dental attendance and time since last dental visit, with perceived oral health impacts among Australian adults.


METHODS
Data were obtained from the Australian National Survey of Adult Oral Health 2004/06. Analysis was limited to 4,170 dentate adults who answered the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14) questions. Prevalence of frequent impacts was defined as the percentage of people reporting 'fairly often' or 'very often' to one or more of the OHIP-14 questions.


RESULTS
Over half the dentate Australians (63.0%) visited a dentist in the past year. Unadjusted analysis showed a statistically significant association between the prevalence of frequent impacts and receipt of: extractions (prevalence ratio = 1.7, 95% CI = 1.2-2.2), scale/clean (0.7, 0.5-0.8), and denture care (1.6, 1.1-2.4). After adjustment for the usual reason for dental attendance there was no effect of any of the three treatments or the time since last visit on the prevalence of frequent impacts.


CONCLUSIONS
The usual reason for dental attendance, and not the time since last visit or the type of dental care supplied, accounted for differences in perceived oral health impacts.
Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health, School of Dentistry, The University of Adelaide, South Australia. leonard.crocombe@adelaide.edu.au
L A
LA
Crocombe
D S
DS
Brennan
G D
GD
Slade
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003442:Crowns / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003729:Dental Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003777:Dental Prophylaxis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003793:Dental Restoration, Permanent / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012534:Dental Scaling / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003829:Denture, Partial / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009909:Oral Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010510:Periodontal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D011788:Quality of Life; D011861:Radiography, Dental / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014081:Tooth Extraction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016388:Tooth Loss / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult