Do socio-economic disparities in dental treatment needs exist in Lithuanian adolescents?

To explore disparities in needs for dental treatment which arise from individual and area-based socio-economic determinants.

A cross-sectional study conducted in 22 randomly selected Lithuanian areas.

In each of the pre-selected areas, one secondary school was randomly chosen.

A total of 885 15-16-year-olds participated. Outcome measures. Dental treatment need was evaluated following the WHO guidelines and aQuantitative Summative Dental Treatment Needs Index (QSDTNI) was used to calculate the total burden of needs. The information about socio-economical determinants was obtained from a structured questionnaire and national statistics database. Individual socio-economic status (SES) measures were: parents' occupation, family structure, family income and affordability to have holiday used as a proxy measure for income. The area-based SES estimates were: unemployment, average household income, educational attainment, natural increase/decrease of population in an area and net migration rate. Data was analyzed by bivariate and multivariate analyses.

None of significant bivariate associations between individual socio-economic variables and the QSDTNI were detected. Among area-based variables natural increase/decrease of population in an area and net migration rate were significantly related to the QSDTNI. Two individual and two area-based factors were extracted and introduced into Linear Multiple Regression Analysis (LMR). The LMR model was significant, but only one factor, i.e. area demographics, significantly contributed to this model.

There are no clear social disparities in dental treatment needs in Lithuanian adolescents.