title: Dental utilization disparities in a Jewish context: reasons and potential solutions.
abstract: Demographic discrepancies in dental healthcare utilization and access to care have historically been studied and attributed to such factors as socioeconomic status, race, and ethnicity. Such potential discrepancies and contributing factors amongst the Jewish population have been little explore.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To examine the frequency of dental visits among Jewish subgroups and explored possible explanatory factors for differences in dental healthcare utilization, such as financial constraints, dental anxiety, religious perspectives on health, lack of perceived need, poor accessibility, and scheduling conflicts.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  A religiously diverse non-clinical sample of 169 Jews completed measures on demographics, dental visit frequency, dental anxiety, and general religiousness.
  
  
  RESULTS
  On average, Orthodox Jews visit the dentist less often than non-Orthodox Jews (OR = 0.43) and Ultra-Orthodox Jews markedly less (OR = 0.23). Moreover, differences between these groups in dental visits were largely mediated by differences in dental anxiety, poor accessibility, lack of perceived need and scheduling conflicts.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results identify a population that is at risk for poor oral health and suggests possible preventive and corrective interventions.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lazarus
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pirutinsky
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Korbman
authors.forename: D H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Rosmarin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D016854:Dental Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D003729:Dental Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004522:Educational Status; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D054625:Healthcare Disparities; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D007585:Jews / Q000145:classification / Q000523:psychology; D007599:Judaism; D017533:Marital Status; D008875:Middle Aged; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D012923:Social Class; D014481:United States / Q000208:ethnology; D055815:Young Adult