Dental Utilization by Insurance Status: A Pilot Study in Tehran

Objectives: The present pilot study was designed to investigate utilization of dental services among 18- to 45-year-olds in Tehran in relation to their dental insurance status and awareness of its coverage. Methods: Data were collected by phone interviews carried out by 3 dental hygienists trained for this purpose. A total of 340 phone numbers were randomly selected from a list of 4,000,000 customers of Tehran Telecommunication Company. From a total of 161 subjects who answered the phone call, 46 fell outside the target group. Among the 115 eligible subjects, 87 (76%) responded, 53 (61%) were women. Interviews took place in mornings and in the afternoons, each lasted an average of 15 minutes and concerned about respondents' background, their insurance status and awareness of its coverage, and utilization of dental services, determined as number of dental visits within the previous 12 months. Statistical evaluation was by chi-square and t-tests. Results: Respondents' mean age was 28.1 years (95% CI 20.1 to 36.1, median 27), with no gender difference (p>0.05); 61% reported being insured, 64% of women and 56% of men (p>0.05). Of the respondents, 49% had visited a dentist within the previous 12 months, mean number of visits being 0.8 (SD=1.0) with no difference between insured and non-insured respondents. Of those insured, 34% were aware of their dental benefits. Among these, 44% had visited a dentist within the previous 12 months. Conclusions: Phone interviews proved to be a feasible method in Iran. Awareness of dental insurance coverage and utilization of dental services in this population was far less than expected.