title: Association between subjective oral health and regularity of service use.
abstract: The aim was to evaluate the predictive power of two different measures of subjective oral health in relation to regularity of use of oral health-care services. The nationally representative data were collected as part of the Health 2000 Survey on Finnish adults, 30+ yr of age (n=4926). Subjective oral health and regularity of using of oral health-care services were measured using single questions and oral health-related quality of life was measured using the 14-item Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14) questionnaire. Those reporting poor oral health or higher impacts in the OHIP-14 were more likely to be irregular users of oral health-care services. Further research is needed to investigate more precisely the applicability of these measures in different settings of oral health-care provision.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Dentistry, Institute of Dentistry, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.
authors.forename: Henri
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kaprio
authors.forename: Anna Liisa
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Suominen
authors.forename: Satu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lahti
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003729:Dental Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D059026:Diagnostic Self Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009909:Oral Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011788:Quality of Life; D017678:Sex Distribution; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires