Use of dental services by Finnish immigrants in Sweden assessed by questionnaire

The purpose of this work was to assess the dental visiting behaviour of Finnish immigrants in Sweden, and factors which determined this. The initial material consisted of a probability sample of 1332 Finnish citizens aged 20 to 59 years, resident in a Stockholm suburb. The response rate was 80%. About 23% of the respondents had never been to a dentist in Sweden. They were mostly newly immigrated and had a poor knowledge of Swedish. About 36% of the subjects visited a dentist in Sweden regularly (at least every second year), a lower rate than reported from studies on Swedish populations. Twenty-three per cent of the subjects had on some occasion been to a dentist in Finland while resident in Sweden. Difficulty in getting an appointment, indifference, fear, language difficulties and poor knowledge of the dental care system in Sweden were mentioned as reasons for not attending a dentist. Thus prevailing attitudes as well as the many other problems in connection with immigration seemed to result in dental health being given low priority by Finnish immigrants in Sweden.