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Updated: May 8, 2026

Oral Health Assessment by Lay Personnel for Older Adults
Published on: February 2, 2020
Dental visiting by insurance and oral health impact
D S Brennan1, O Anikeeva, D N Teusner
1Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health, School of Dentistry, The University of Adelaide, South Australia.
Background:
The aim of this study was to explore whether oral health has an influence on the association between dental insurance and dental visiting.
Methods:
A random sample of adults aged 30-61 years living in Australia was drawn from the Australian Electoral Roll. Data were collected by mailed survey in 2009-2010, including age, gender, household income, dental insurance status, dental visiting and oral health impact.
Results:
Responses were collected from n = 1096 persons (response rate = 39.1%). Dental insurance was positively associated with visiting a dentist in the last 12 months (prevalence ratio (PR) = 1.48; 95% CI: 1.31-1.67), while oral health impact was not associated with recent visiting PR = 1.01; 95% CI: 0.89-1.14). Visiting for the purpose of pain relief was less prevalent among insured participants (PR = 0.60; 95% CI: 0.44-0.81), but more prevalent among those with poor oral health (PR = 2.85; 95% CI: 2.15-3.76). It was found that oral health impact did not alter the relationship between dental insurance and visiting.
Conclusions:
Oral health impacts were not associated with recent dental visits, but were associated with visits for pain relief. Dental insurance was associated with a greater likelihood of recent visits and lower levels of relief of pain visits.
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