Factors Related to Dental and Oral Utilization in Indonesia: An Ecological Study

Abstract

Oral and dental health is an integral part of general health which requires attention. This study was conducted to analyze the ecological factors associated with the proportion of dental and oral utilization in Indonesia. The ecological analysis was conducted using secondary data from the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia report in 2018. All provinces were taken as samples. Apart from the proportion of dental and oral utilization, 5 other variables analyzed as independent variables were a percentage of 9-year gross enrollment rate, percentage of poor people, the proportion of damaged/cavity/sore teeth, proportion of missing teeth due to extraction/date itself, and ratio of PHC per district. The results show that 4 variables tend to have a positive relationship with the proportion of dental and oral utilization. The four variables were the percentage of 9-year gross enrollment rate, the proportion of damaged/cavity/sore teeth, proportion of missing teeth due to extraction/date itself, and the ratio of PHC per district. On the other side, 1 variable was found to tend to have a negative relationship with the proportion of dental and oral utilization, namely the percentage of poor people. It could be concluded that the five independent variables analyzed tend to have a relationship with the proportion of dental and oral utilization in Indonesia.