Dental treatment need among 20 to 25-year-old Swedes: discrepancy between subjective and objective need

Our aim was to analyze variables from a questionnaire sent to 20 to 25-year-old Swedes to determine how they perceive their oral treatment need, and to determine which variables affect this perception. The questionnaire was sent to 650 individuals randomly selected from the database of the National Social Insurance Board of Sweden. The response rate was 78%. Another questionnaire was sent to the dentists of these young adults in order to collect clinical information. The response rate was 66%. The respondent's answer to the question 'How do you rate your dental treatment need today?' was dichotomized and used as a dependent variable in a multivariate logistic regression model. Each increase in number of decayed-filled teeth led to a 13% increased treatment need, bad oral hygiene a 2.24-fold increase, and no periodontal disease an 80% reduction in treatment need. A higher education beyond comprehensive school increased the perceived treatment need 7.16 times; a poorer dental health than one's contemporaries led to a 14.47-fold increase. When dentist and patient assessments were combined, variables related to the patients' self-assessments were the only significant contributors to the statistical model. A lack of concordance between patients' and dentists' assessments of treatment need was found which highlighted the differences between patients' and dentists' views on treatment need. This study shows the importance of communication between dentist and patient.