New Oral Health Research Reported from King Abdulaziz University (Socioeconomic inequalities in the utilization of dental services among adults in Saudi Arabia): Health and Medicine – Oral Health

2022 MAY 06 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Investigators publish new report on oral health. According to news reporting from King Abdulaziz University by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “This study used the Anderson Behavioral Model to assess the socioeconomic inequalities in dental services utilization among adults in Saudi Arabia, along with other predictors of utilization, to inform future planning of dental care services. This cross-sectional study was a secondary analysis using national data from the 2019 Kingdom of Saudi Arabia World Health Survey (KSAWHS).”

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from King Abdulaziz University: “The survey consisted of two interviewer-administered questionnaires: one household and one individual interview. The questions covered predisposing factors (age, gender, marital status, nationality, education, employment), enabling factors (income, household wealth, area-based socioeconomic class, health insurance, eligibility for free governmental health care, transportation and region of residence) and self-reported need for dental treatment. The main outcome was dental utilization in the past year; predisposing, enabling and need factors were independent variables. Hierarchical logistic regression analyses identified significant predictors of dental utilization, applying survey weights to adjust for the complex survey design. Adjusted odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals and p values were reported in the final model. The final dataset included 8535 adults (response rate = 95.4%). Twenty percent of adults had visited the dentist at least once in the past year (95% CI 18-21%). There were socioeconomic inequalities in dental utilization. High household income (OR 1.43, p = 0.043), second and middle household wealth status (OR 1.51, p = 0.003 and OR 1.57, p = 0.006) and access to free governmental health care (OR 2.05, p = 0.004) were significant predictors in the final regression model along with perceived need for dental treatment (OR 52.09, p < 0.001).”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Socioeconomic inequalities in the utilization of dental services exist in Saudi Arabia. The need for treatment was the strongest predictor suggesting predominantly symptomatic attendance. Increasing awareness about the importance of preventive dental visits rather than symptomatic attendance could be an important policy implication to improve oral health and optimize dental care expenditure. Further research should explore the drivers for adults to seek preventive care in the absence of any recognized dental problems.”

For more information on this research see: Socioeconomic inequalities in the utilization of dental services among adults in Saudi Arabia. BMC Oral Health, 2022,22(1):1-11. (BMC Oral Health - http://bmcoralhealth.biomedcentral.com). The publisher for BMC Oral Health is BMC.

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.1186/s12903-022-02162-w.

Our news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Deema A. Sahab, Department of Dental Public Health, Faculty of Dentistry, King Abdulaziz University. Additional authors for this research include Mohamed S. Bamashmous, Amitha Ranauta, Vanessa Muirhead.

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)