Socio-Economic Determinants of the Need for Dental Care in Adults

Oral health has improved in France. However, there are still inequalities related to the socio-economic status.

The aim of this study was to measure the prevalence of dental care needs in an adult population and to identify the demographic, socio-economic and behavioral variables that may explain variations in this parameter.

A cross-sectional analysis of the French SIRS cohort (n = 2,997 adults from the Paris region; 2010 data) was carried out to determine the prevalence of self-reported dental care needs relative to demographic, socio-economic and behavioral variables. A logistic regression model was used to identify the variables that were most strongly associated with the level of need.

In 2010, the prevalence of the need for dental care in the SIRS cohort was 35.0% (95% CI [32.3-37.8]). It was lower in people with higher education levels (31.3% [27.9-34.6]), without immigrant background (31.3% [28.0-34.6]) and with comprehensive health insurance (social security + complementary health cover; 32.8% [30.2-35.4]). It decreased as the socio-economic status increased, but without following a strict linear change. It was also lower among individuals who had a dental check-up visit in the previous two years. In multivariate analyses, the socioeconomic variables most strongly associated with the need for dental care were: educational attainment (OR = 1.21 [1.02-1.44]), income level (OR = 1.66 [1.92-2.12]) and national origin (OR = 1.53 [1.26-1.86]).

These results confirm that the prevalence of dental care needs is higher among adults with low socio-economic status. Education level, income level and also national origin were more strongly associated with the need for dental care than insurance cover level.