The ‘healthy-user’ effect assumes that being healthy is associated with healthy behaviours. We aimed to determine if the healthy user effect is associated with routine dental attendance in an Indigenous Australian context. We hypothesised that healthy lifestyle-related factors and health status would be associated with routine dental attendance.
Method:
The study comprised a convenience sample of 271 Indigenous Australians (mean age 40.5, sd= 10.6) residing in Australia’s Northern Territory. Routine dental attendance was defined as last visiting a dentist less than one year ago or usually visiting a dentist for a check-up. Healthy-user effect variables comprised self-perceived dental health, general health behaviours, psychological health, clinical dental health and clinical general health factors. Explanatory variables significant at the P<0.2 level in bivariate analysis were entered into binary logistic regression models and adjusted for socio-demographic characteristics.
Results:
In bivariate analysis, being female, moderate levels of psychological distress, low levels of periodontal clinical attachment loss (CAL) and low levels of C-reactive protein were significantly associated with last visiting a dentist less than one year ago. Being aged <39 years, male, no oral health impairment low levels of CAL, no decayed teeth and low levels of Apolipoprotein B were significantly associated with usually visiting a dentist for a check-up. CAL remained significantly associated with last visiting a dentist less than one year ago after adjusting for other covariates (OR 2.3, 95% CI 1.2-4.5), while being aged <39 years (OR 2.4 95% CI 1.3-4.8) and having no oral health impairment (OR 3.2, 95% CI 1.5-6.6) remained significantly associated with usually visiting a dentist for a check-up after adjusting for other covariates.
Conclusion:
Younger age, no oral health impairment and low levels of periodontal disease were the components of the healthy-user effect significantly associated with routine dental attendance among Indigenous Australians.