Is trust a predictor of having a dental home?

Developing a better understanding of sociodemographic variables that predict having a dental home may aid in reducing the disparities in oral health among minorities in the United States.

The authors used data from a telephone survey of 1,005 randomly selected low-income residents (403 men, 602 women) aged 18 or older in two Florida counties--Miami-Dade and Duval--to examine the sociodemographic characteristics of people who reported having a regular dentist.

Bivariate analyses showed that respondents' levels of trust in physicians and dentists were strongly associated with having a dental home. After adjusting for other variables in a multiple logistic regression model, the authors found that respondents with a moderate level of trust in physicians and dentists were 52 percent less likely (odds ratio, or OR, = 0.48; 95 percent confidence interval, or CI, 0.26 to 0.89) and those with low trust were 54 percent less likely (OR = 0.46; 95 percent CI, 0.28 to 0.75) than those with high trust to have a regular dentist. Race/ethnicity, sex, age, education level and employment status remained significant correlates of having a regular dentist in the multivariate model.

The results of this study suggest that efforts to reduce disparities in access to dental care and establish dental homes should include programs to increase patients' trust in dental professionals.

While policy-makers consider ways to improve access to dental care, dental professionals should work at the community level to increase the level of trust of the community in the dental health provider.