Utilization of dental services and associated factors among preschool children in China

Abstract

Background: This study sought to evaluate dental utilization among 3-,4-, and 5-year-old children in China and to use Andersen's behavioural model to explore influencing factors, thereby providing a reference for future policy making.Methods: This study is a cross-sectional study. Data of 40,305 children aged 3-5 years were extracted from the Fourth National Oral Health Survey, which was performed from August 2015 to December 2016. Patient data were collected using a questionnaire, which was answered by the child's parents, and clinical data were collected during a clinical examination. Stratification and survey weighting were incorporated into the complex survey design. Descriptive statistics, bivariate correlations and hierarchical logistic regression results were then analysed to find the factors associated with oral health service utilization.Results: The oral health service utilization prevalence during the prior 12 months were 9.5% (95%CI: 8.1-11.1%) among 3-year-old children, 12.1% (95%CI: 10.8-13.5%) among 4-year-old children, and 17.5% (95%CI: 15.6-19.4%) among 5year-old children. "No dental diseases" (71.3%) and "dental disease was not severe" (12.4%) were the principal reasons why children had not attended a dental visit in the past 12 months. The children whose parents had a bachelor's degree or higher (OR: 2.29, 95%CI: 1.97-2.67, p < 0.001), a better oral health attitude ranging from 5 to 8(OR: 1.64, 95%CI: 1.43-1.89, p < 0.001), annual per capital income more than 25,000 CNY (OR: 1.40, 95%CI: 1.18-1.65, p < 0.001), think their child have worse or bad oral health (OR: 3.54, 95%CI: 2.84-4.40, p < 0.001), and children who often have toothaches (OR: 9.72, 95%CI: 7.81-12.09, p < 0.001) were more likely to go to the dentist in the past year. Conclusion:The prevalence of dental service utilization was relatively low among preschool children. It is necessary to strengthen oral health education for parents and children, thereby improving oral health knowledge as well as attitude, and promoting dental utilization.

Factors Associated with Dental Service Use Based on the Andersen Model: A Systematic Review

“…The process of study selection is shown in Figure 1 (flow chart [21]). In sum, n = 41 studies were included in our final synthesis (ten studies investigating children/adolescents [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31] and 31 studies investigating adults ). We will present an overview of included studies by age group (children/adolescents; adults) in the next two sections.…”

“…The period of dental service use ranged from six months [23,29] to ever visiting a dentist in one's lifetime (in Saudi Arabia [22] and Brazil [24,25]). While all studies examined predisposing characteristics, nine out of the ten studies examined enabling resources [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30], eight out of the ten studies examined need factors [22,[24][25][26][27][28]30,31] and one study examined psychosocial factors [30]. The studies included covered all age groups in childhood/adolescence.…”

The impact of coronavirus lockdown on oral healthcare and its associated issues of pre-schoolers in China: an online cross-sectional survey

“…Self-reported caries prevalence during Wuhan lockdown was 60.8% and. over 30% of children suffered toothache, which might be caused by unavailable dental services [ 12 , 13 ]. This showed that dentists need to pay more attention to the treatment of toothache in pre-schoolers when the epidemic were thoroughly controlled in the future.…”

Perceived need and utilization of dental health care services in Indonesia: A secondary analysis using the national socioeconomic data

“…40 This approach can provide more realistic estimates, given that individuals who do not perceive the effects of their oral conditions may not seek dental and oral health services. 41…”