IADR Abstract Archives
Factors related to accessibility of dental care services among the elderly in Lower Northern Region, Thailand
Objectives: 1) assess the level of access to dental care services of elderly in Lower Northern Region and 2) identify factors related to access to dental care services of elderly in Lower Northern Region, Thailand.
Methods: The sample of 700 elderly was sampled by multi-stage sampling techniques. Questionnaire was used to gather the data which were analyzed by descriptive statistics and stepwise multiple regression analysis.
Results: The results revealed the most of the elderly (75.0%) retained their natural teeth and mean of number of teeth were 13.8 (+-11.8). The majority of 58.3 % of the elderly had no denture, 50.0 % of the elderly visited the dentists when they had the symptoms and 25.9 % of the elderly had never visited the dentists. In terms of access to dental services, the highest score was in the domain of acceptability (73.43 %) and the lowest score was accessibility (65.46 %). Education, occupation(farmer and employee), living alone and income jointly predicted 7.7 % of access to dental care services (R2 adjusted = 0.077).
Conclusions: This study suggests that providers should focus on the proactive dental care services and the transportation of the elderly.
Methods: The sample of 700 elderly was sampled by multi-stage sampling techniques. Questionnaire was used to gather the data which were analyzed by descriptive statistics and stepwise multiple regression analysis.
Results: The results revealed the most of the elderly (75.0%) retained their natural teeth and mean of number of teeth were 13.8 (+-11.8). The majority of 58.3 % of the elderly had no denture, 50.0 % of the elderly visited the dentists when they had the symptoms and 25.9 % of the elderly had never visited the dentists. In terms of access to dental services, the highest score was in the domain of acceptability (73.43 %) and the lowest score was accessibility (65.46 %). Education, occupation(farmer and employee), living alone and income jointly predicted 7.7 % of access to dental care services (R2 adjusted = 0.077).
Conclusions: This study suggests that providers should focus on the proactive dental care services and the transportation of the elderly.