Abstract
Aim: To evaluate changes in habitual use of dental services by gender and age groups in an adult population during 11 years in a nationally representative setting.
Methods: The data were collected by interviews as a part of the Health 2000 and Health 2011 programmes, during which 7,964 Finnish adults aged ≥ 30 years were surveyed. The Ethics Committees of the National Public Health Institute and University Hospital Region of Helsinki, Finland gave permission to these National Surveys. The participants were asked if they visited dentist: regularly for checkups, or only when having pain or other trouble, or never. The first option indicated habitual and the last two non-habitual visits to a dentist. The participants were categorized according to their year of birth: born 1971 of after, 1956-1970, 1946-1955 and 1945 or before. The changes were evaluated with cross-tabulation and the McNemar-test.
Results: 4,053 participants (51%) answered the question in both years. Habitual use of dental services was more common among women (66% in 2000 and 69% in 2011) than among men (53% in 2000 and 57% in 2011). The proportion of those reporting habitual visits changed according to age and gender as follows: among men born 1971 or later from 42% to 52% (p=0.009), among women born 1971 or later from 59% to 66% (p=0.057), among men born 1956-70 no change, 56% in both years (p=0.604), among women born 1956-70 from 70% to 72% (p=0.267), among men born 1946-55 from 54% to 64% (p<0.001), among women born 1946-55 from 70% to 72% (p=0.456), among men born 1945 or before from 59% to 55% (p=0.193) and among women born 1945 or before from 62% to 65% (p=0.223), i.e. the changes in habitual use were statistically significant only among men in two age groups.
Conclusions: The changes in habitual visits to a dentist were not substantial. Habitual service use was the pattern among the majority of adults in all age groups and among both genders during the 11 year period.
Partly supported by the Finnish Dental Society Apollonia.
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