Dental health and dental visiting among young Australian adults

Objective: To investigate the hypothesis that the same social disadvantage factors are associated with use of dental services and oral health in young Australian adults. Methods: Data were extracted from the National Survey of Adult Oral Health 2004-06, a nationally representative cross-sectional survey of Australian adults 15+years. Socio-demographic and visiting data were obtained from computer-aided telephone interviews. Caries data were from oral examinations in a clinical environment by trained and calibrated examiners. Results reported were significant within 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: Interview and examination data were collected on 1125 young adults aged 15-34 years. Over half had made a visit in the previous 12 month (56.5%) and usually visited for a check-up (58.9%). The prevalence of untreated decay was 25.8% and the mean DMFT was 4.5. Multivariate analyses found that factors significantly associated with untreated decay were being Indigenous (OR 4.2; CI 1.1–16.1), living outside a capital city (OR 0.6; CI 0.4–0.8) and usually visit for a check-up (OR 0.5; CI 0.3–0.7). Factors associated with higher mean DMFT were usually visiting for a check-up (p<0.01) and not avoiding dental care because of cost (p<0.05). Factors associated with visiting in the last 12 months were being female (OR 1.4; CI 1.1–2.0) usually visiting a dentist for a check-up (OR 3.1; CI 2.2–4.3) having private dental insurance (OR 1.5; CI 1.1-2.1) and not avoiding dental care because of cost (OR 2.2; CI 1.6–3.1). Conclusion: Among young Australian adults, usual reason for making a dental visit and not avoiding dental care because of cost were associated with oral health and visiting patterns, otherwise factors associated with oral health are different to those associated with visiting pattern.

Supported by NHMRC, Australian Dental Association, CDC, Colgate Palmolive