title: Education-related Inequity in Access and Utilization of Oral Health Care in Iran.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Oral health affects peoples' lives physically and psychologically and is related to general health, quality of life, and feelings of social well-being. As the educational level is an important predictor of healthy life and can affect healthcare utilization, this study aims to estimate the inequity related to the educational level of parents on the access and utilization of oral health care (OHC) in Qom, Iran.
  
  
  METHODS
  An analytical, cross-sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Overall 281 children, six to seven years of age, were given a self-administrated questionnaire to fill. The sex, access to utilization of OHC, and educational level of the children's parents were questioned. The concentration (C) index was used as the inequity measure and statistical inference was conducted by chi square and the confidence interval of C.
  
  
  METHODS
  The mean age of the children was 6.48 ± 0.5 years. There was not statistically significant difference in the access and utilization rate of OHC between the two sexes (P > 0.05). There was an increasing trend in the utilization rate of OHC, because of the increased educational level of the parents. The C for access and utilization rate, for different levels of fathers' education was 0.055(-0.095 to 0.205) and 0.097(-0.068 to 0.261) and for mothers' educational level was 0.086(-0.068 to 0.241) and 0.091(-0.81 to 0.263), respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results did not show evidence of sex disparity in the access and utilization of OHC in Iranian children. Also the inequity related to the educational level in access and utilization of OHC was low and not considerable.
authors: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Faculty of Health, Research Center for Health Policy and Promotion, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Iran.
authors: Abolfazl
authors: A
authors: Mohammadbeigi
authors: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Faculty of Health, Research Center for Health Policy and Promotion, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Iran.
authors: Shahram
authors: S
authors: Arsangjang
authors: Department of CDC, Vice Chancellor of Health, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran.
authors: Narges
authors: N
authors: Mohammadsalehi
authors: Education Development Center, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran.
authors: Zohreh
authors: Z
authors: Anbari
authors: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran.
authors: Ebrahim
authors: E
authors: Ghaderi
keywords: Access; disparity; educational level; inequality; inequity; oral health care; utilization