Objectives To test the relationship of predisposing, enabling and need characteristics with dental services utilization and pattern of dental attendance among 12‐year‐old schoolchildren living in a socially deprived urban area. Methods A cross‐sectional study was carried out involving 358 children enrolled in public schools located in a deprived area of the city of Manaus, Brazil. Predisposing, enabling, and need characteristics were selected according to Andersen's behavioral conceptual model. Self‐completed questionnaires were used to collect the predisposing characteristics (child's gender, sense of coherence, self‐esteem, oral health beliefs). Parents or guardians provided data on enabling characteristics, including dental health insurance and socioeconomic status. Evaluated need characteristics included oral clinical status assessed through dental examinations conducted by five calibrated examiners. Structural equation modeling was used to test the predictors of dental services utilization and pattern of dental attendance. Results Predisposing characteristics, including male gender and low parents/guardians sense of coherence predicted poor dental services utilization and inadequate pattern of dental attendance, respectively. Low socioeconomic status and poor oral clinical status were linked to poor dental services utilization and worse children's pattern of dental attendance. Conclusions The present findings suggest that predisposing (child's gender and parental sense of coherence), enabling (socioeconomic conditions) and evaluated need characteristics (oral clinical status) are associated with dental services utilization among children.