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Abstract [en]
Objective. The aim of the present study was to investigate attitudes to, and demands of dental care, and to assess possible associations with socioeconomic and clinical variables over a period of ten years. A further aim was to investigate the association between OHRQoL assessed by OIDP, and socioeconomic, dental care habits, smoking and oral status. Materials and methods. Three cross-sectional epidemiological studies were performed in the county of Dalarna, Sweden, in 2003, 2008 and 2013. Random samples of 1542–2244 individuals, aged 30-85 years, who answered a questionnaire about socio-economic, socio-behavioral factors, oral health-related quality of life were radiographically and clinically examined. Results. The importance of preventive treatment, regular recalls, meeting the same caregiver as on previous visits, and information on treatment cost have become less important. Difficulty in booking treatment time was reported by 17% in 2013, compared with 11% in 2003 and 12% in 2008 (p<0.05). In individuals with alveolar bone loss, meeting the same caregiver as on previous visits was important (p<0.05). In individuals with temporomandibular disorder (TMD) and manifest caries, information on treatment cost was important, while prevention became less important (p<0.05). Oral impact on daily performance (OIDP) was reported by 31% of the individuals in the study, and frequent impact was reported by 10%. Individuals with manifest caries lesions, less than 20 remaining teeth, and TMD reported OIDP to a significantly higher degree, compared to orally healthy individuals. Conclusion. Attitudes important in maintaining and improving good oral health, such as preventive care and regular recalls to dentistry, became less important during this period of 10 years, and difficulty in booking treatment time was reported more frequently in 2013. Oral impact was found to be associated with irregular dental visits and limited economy for dental care, less than 20 remaining teeth, TMD and manifest caries.
Keywords
Dental caries, epidemiology, socio-behavioral, socioeconomic, tobacco, OHRQoL
National Category
Dentistry
Research subject
Epidemiology
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-280127 (URN)
2016-03-082016-03-082016-04-12Bibliographically approved