Do young adults demand more dental services as their income increases?

Abstract

Several studies from the USA have shown that there is a positive and strong relationship between income and demand for dental care. All these studies have been performed on populations where treatment needs were high. Today, young adults represent one group of the population where treatment needs are low. But young adults will not necessarily demand or utilize more dental services as their income increases. As we do not know the extent to which demand will increase when income increases among young adults, future needs for dental manpower could be less than predicted from previous studies. The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between income and demand/utilization for dental services among young adults in Norway. The analyses were performed on two large sets of survey data, collected in 1985 and 1995, which were representative of the Norwegian population aged 20 years and above. The main finding was that the increase in demand with an increase in income was less for young adults than for older adults. In particular, there was a marked fall in the income elasticities among young adults from 1985 to 1995. The fall in the income elasticity corresponds to a marked decrease in the prevalence of dental diseases among young adults during that period. Our results imply that future policies for dental manpower should take into account the lower income elasticity for young adults compared to for older adults, and that future needs for dental personnel should be planned accordingly.

Socio-demographic disparity in oral health among the poor: a cross sectional study of early adolescents in Kilwa district, Tanzania

“…Adolescents belonging to the less poor households presented with treatment need and dental attendance more frequently than their counterparts in the poorest households. According to Grytten and Holst [27], several US studies reported a positive association between income and demand for dental care, particularly when treatment need was high. Although dental attendance, oral hygiene behavior and sugar intake varied systematically with oral health outcomes (Table 3), social disparities in caries experience and self reported oral health were not attenuated whilst adjusting for those lifestyle patterns (Table 4).…”

The relation between family socioeconomic trajectories from childhood to adolescence and dental caries and associated oral behaviours

“…According to Grytten and Holst,19 several US studies reported a positive and strong relation between income and demand for dental care when treatment need is high, and less pronounced associations when need is low. However, dental attendances have little effect on reducing dental caries 20 21 although access to dental care may improve the quality of life of affected individuals.…”

Consumption of dental services among adults in Denmark 1994–2003

“…Regular dental attendance is mostly defined by at least one dental visit, on average, per year during the last 5 yr, or at least one dental visit during the past year. In Scandinavian and other western countries, the number of regular users of oral health services has increased over time, including older people (1, 3–6). Factors consistently associated with people's dental visiting habits are number of teeth present, age, and gender, but socio‐cultural and socio‐economic factors have also been found to affect people's dental attendance (1, 2, 4–8).…”