Contextual determinants for use of dental services according to different healthcare financing systems: Andersen's...

To explore contextual factors associated with overall dental service use, and investigate whether these factors influenced choice of the type of service according to the healthcare financing alternatives (public services; out-of-pocket services; and private health insurance), by adults and older individuals, based on the most recent Andersen's behavioural model.

Cross-sectional study with individual data on 17,305 adults from 177 Brazilian municipalities in the National Oral Health Survey (SBBrasil 2010). Municipal-level information was obtained from health information systems and census data. Multilevel multinomial logistic regression was carried out for multivariable analysis.

In the previous year, 38.2% of the individuals visited the dentist; of which 21.4% used out-of-pocket spending, 11.6% used public services and 5.2% private dental insurance. Municipalities with population coverage of public primary dental care >80% had higher chances of using public services (OR = 1.28, 95%CI:1.00-1.64) than those with ≤60%, but lower chances of using private insurance (OR = 0.56, 95%CI:0.38-0.83). Municipalities with population coverage of private dental insurance > 5% had lower chances of using public services (OR = 0.62, 95%CI:0.47-0.81) than those with <1% coverage, and greater chances of using private insurance (OR = 4.33, CI:95% 2.02-9.29). These factors were not associated with out-of-pocket dental services.

Municipal coverage of dental services is associated with dental care use, and this is different according to the type of financing system (public or private), as they may change the individual's choice of service. A large public healthcare system may increase public service use for those with reduced access and decrease private service use.