IADR Abstract Archives
Determinants of access to oral health care in Chile: A new model
Objectives: The Chilean health system has implemented reforms to reduce socioeconomic inequality in health by developing and expanding new health policies. However, despite the high incidence of oral health problems, there is not much information on the determinants of inequality in access to oral health care, especially income. This study, through the use of the 2017 Socioeconomic Characterization Survey, seeks to contribute to this area.
Methods: This survey considered 202,155 individuals. The dependent variable was based on the question: How many dental consultations or attentions did you receive in the last 3 months? It was adjusted for age, health system, educational level, sex, rurality, and income. Several two-part models were used (logistic/Poisson, logistic/gamma, logistic/neg. binomial). Also, using the Akaike information criterion, the model that fits better with the data to explain which determinants affect individuals' access to oral health care and the number of visits was determined.
Results: The two-part model with the best goodness of fit was logistic/gamma, which showed that age, health system, educational level, gender, rurality, and income affected whether individuals had access to oral health care (p<0.01) or not. On the other hand, only the variable age affected the number of visits (p<0.01).
Conclusions: Currently, Chilean and international studies on inequality in access highlight that the higher the socioeconomic level, the more possibilities for accessing a dental consultation, which is consistent with this study. However, few studies talk about the influence of age. The methodology of this study has rarely been used in dentistry, being a valuable tool to know the determinants that influence the access and number of dental visits.
Methods: This survey considered 202,155 individuals. The dependent variable was based on the question: How many dental consultations or attentions did you receive in the last 3 months? It was adjusted for age, health system, educational level, sex, rurality, and income. Several two-part models were used (logistic/Poisson, logistic/gamma, logistic/neg. binomial). Also, using the Akaike information criterion, the model that fits better with the data to explain which determinants affect individuals' access to oral health care and the number of visits was determined.
Results: The two-part model with the best goodness of fit was logistic/gamma, which showed that age, health system, educational level, gender, rurality, and income affected whether individuals had access to oral health care (p<0.01) or not. On the other hand, only the variable age affected the number of visits (p<0.01).
Conclusions: Currently, Chilean and international studies on inequality in access highlight that the higher the socioeconomic level, the more possibilities for accessing a dental consultation, which is consistent with this study. However, few studies talk about the influence of age. The methodology of this study has rarely been used in dentistry, being a valuable tool to know the determinants that influence the access and number of dental visits.