Investigation of the Association Between Dental Expenses and Treatment with SocioeconomicStatus in the Southern Division of NHI

• Main Authors: Su-Yu Kuo, 郭素玉
• Other Authors: Yi-Hsin Yang
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2004
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/93428242947853650338

碩士 === 高雄醫學大學 === 口腔衛生科學碩士在職專班 === 92 === ABSTRACT Background： This study aimed to understand the dental service and needs in the Taiwan area. Most studies that researched the utilization of dental services depended on General Public Health data. There have been many studies about the association of socioeconomic status and dental service utilization in other countries, but not in Taiwan. Study objective： To understand the correlation between socioeconomic status, demographic conditions, the frequency of dental service utilization, expenses, the different treatment condition, and the association of smoking, alcohol, and betel nut users with dental service expenses and treatment items. Methods： We used the community sample information collected by the Taiwan Areca quid Prevalence Survey (TAPS) study to delineate the dental service expenses. Then discussed the relationship of socioeconomic status and the expenses of dental service residents of 18 years old and older, Southern Division Area of NHI (including Tainan city/county, Cha-yi city/county, Yu-Lin county). A stratified multi-stage cluster sampling was employed to select the subjects randomly with probability proportional to size. The data management was implemented by SAS software, and statistical analysis was conducted by JMP software. Results： The analytic results indicated that 99.37% of the population participated in GHI (general health insurance) and 0.63% did not. When comparing, if the subjects have been to dental clinics or a dental department between 2001 and 2003, the dental service needs and the frequency of accepting dental service descended from 16.20% (2001) to 12.73% (2003). The decreasing rate was significant. The oral health behaviors including areca/betel chewing, cigarette smoking, and alcohol drinking may influence the utilization frequency of dental services. After analyzing the data, the utilization rate of dental services in the areca/betel-chewing group (34.09%) was a little higher than in the non-betel-chewing group (33.30%). People who smoked and drank (33.50) was also higher than the non-smoking and non-drinking group (33.51). The utilization rate in the non-smoking group was 33.11%, and the non-drinking group was 31.97%. It is higher in urban areas (39.13%) than in rural areas. Full mouth calculus removal and emergent difficult endodontic treatment had very significant variations in education level in statistical analysis. It indicated that the non-utilization rate in difficult case treatment is highest in the group educated above high school (97.83%). Preventive full mouth calculus removal was highest in the group educated above high school the non-utilization rate (95.38%) in endodontic root canal filling treatment was the highest in 18-34 y/o. But the utilization rate (9.68%) was the highest in 51-64y/o. Full mouth calculus removal was the highest in 18-34 years old (21.22%) and lowest in the group aged above 65 years old and over. This research also found that there was 89.73% people who do not utilized dental services regularly and only 10.27% utilize it regularly. But it was a little higher rate in utilizing dental service (23.10%) than in non-utilizing (12.21%) in the last half year of 2002 (p<0.0001). It revealed significant difference in data. But there was no significant difference in other years. Conclusion： In general the present study shows there are different needs in each sub-population. The dental visiting treatment behavior as well as the knowledge, attitude, and practices of oral health should be reinforced and promoted to every corner of the community through the constant instruction of oral hygienists and through the promotion by mass media. Key words：oral health, dental visit, cognition of areca/betel quid, tooth brushing methods