ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to investigate the reasons for unmet dental needs in Korea and to find ways to improve dental care accessibility by using data from the 6th National Health and Nutrition Survey. METHODS: This study was performed using data collected from the 6th National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). A total of 2,251 subjects were selected for the study. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 21.0 on data files obtained according to complex sampling design, and a significance level of 0.05 was used. General characteristics of the subjects, oral health status, and unmet dental needs were examined for a complex sampling frequency analysis, and the differences in distribution were analyzed using chi-square analysis. Relevant factors were determined using logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: According to the logistic regression analysis, in Model 1, gender, household income, employment status, and subjective health status were found to be significantly related to unmet dental needs (P<0.05). In Model 2, subjective health status, subjective oral health status, and chewing difficulty were significantly related to unmet dental needs (P<0.001). Model 3 showed a significant relationship between subjective health status, subjective oral health status, chewing difficulty, periodontal disease, and unmet dental needs (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that the reasons for the unmet dental needs in Korea are socioeconomic status, general health status, and oral health status. In the future, economic barriers to obtaining dental care need to be overcome through improvements in health insurance policies and systems and diversification of private insurance. Oral health should be improved through oral health education, which can create awareness and provide motivation for maintaining oral health.
Subject(s)
Adult , Humans , Dental Care , Diagnostic Self Evaluation , Education , Employment , Family Characteristics , Information Storage and Retrieval , Insurance , Insurance, Health , Korea , Logistic Models , Mastication , Motivation , Nutrition Surveys , Oral Health , Periodontal Diseases , Social ClassABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: This study aims to examine the possible reasons of unmet dental need, considering the relationship between the socioeconomic and oral health status in Korea. METHODS: The study was designed as a cross-sectional study, using the data of the 4th Korea National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey. The samples were selected with a stratified clusters sampling method. The subjects were 8,808 out of 23,478 people, which participated in the health examination survey and the oral examination. Statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS18.0, according to complex sampling design. 26 variables reflecting demographic, social and economic characteristics, and an oral health status, were all examined for a complex sampling frequency analysis. Further, their distributional differences were confirmed by chi-square analysis. RESULTS: About 40% of the subjects failed to receive dental treatment when it was required. 'Financial burden' was the main reason, with the percentage of 39.1%, followed by 'busy with school or work' (22.4%), 'lower on the priority scale' (15.2%) and 'fear of dental treatment' (12.1%). 'Other reasons' were 5.9%. In addition to this, 2.9% of the subjects stated 'there was no one to help with their children', 1.6% was 'dental clinics were too far to go' and 0.8% was due to 'poor mobility and other health problems'. It was observed that younger than 6 years old, especially, seemed to have a high level of fear of dental treatment. The students due to school and the elderly were concerned with financial burden. Moreover, low-level educated and low-level income, also have their financial problems as the main reason. On the other hand, highly educated and those that were better-off, financially, were 'busy with school or work' as the main reason. CONCLUSIONS: The primary reason for unmet dental need was the financial burden in Korea. Also, it was confirmed that there were various reasons, according to the demographic, social and economic characteristics, such as their age, education levels and incomes, rather than oral health status.
Subject(s)
Aged , Humans , Cross-Sectional Studies , Diagnosis, Oral , Hand , Korea , Oral Health , Social ClassABSTRACT
Planejar o acesso ao atendimento odontológico de forma eqüitativa e integrar toda a equipe com a proposta de saúde bucal para atendimento familiar.Metodologia: este trabalho relata a experiência de reorganização do processo de trabalho da saúde bucal de uma unidade de saúde da família na cidade de Amparo, SP, discutindo em equipe sobre a problemática da saúde bucal na unidade, levantando os dados da lista de espera, e elaborando um instrumento de avaliação de risco onde se buscou a construção de um instrumento que possibilitasse ordenar prioritariamente as famílias com maior necessidade de atendimento e que pudesse ser utilizado por qualquer profissional da equipe. Cada individuo da família foi avaliado e pontuado numa graduação de 1 a 3, em relação aos critérios idade, condição bucal e saúde geral. Posteriormente foi feita uma somatória da pontuação de todas as pessoas da família e realizada uma média. Esta média foi somada a uma nota familiar que considera a condição sócio-econômica e moradia. A necessidade sentida pelo usuário também foi considerada na nota familiar.Resultados: obteve-se um instrumento de avaliação em saúde bucal simples, de fácil compreensão e manuseio e que fez do Agente Comunitário de Saúde, em especial, um elo de ligação entre o paciente e a equipe; uma lista de espera mais equânime, reorientação das triagens familiares, caracterização da busca de atendimento por micro-áreas, para planejamento de atividades educativas, diminuição do número de urgências e maior integração entre os profissionais da equipe.Conclusão: observou-se durante os trabalhos, além da reorganização da demanda e da faixa etária atendida, que até 2001 era prioritária para gestantes e crianças até 14 anos, restringindo assim o acesso dos adultos e consequentemente limitando os programas de saúde e com a implantação das Equipes de Saúde Bucal na Estratégia de Saúde da Família, houve um ganho de qualidade para os usuários e também para os profissionais...
To plan access to dental care in an equitable and integrate the entire team with the proposed oral health care for families. Methodology: this study reports the experience of reorganizing the work process of oral health in the health unit's family Garden Brazil, discussing team on the issue of oral health in the unit, raising the data from the waiting list, and making an instrument of risk assessment where we sought in this step to build an instrument capable of ordering priority to families most in need of care and that could be used by any professional team. Each individual family is assessed and scored on a grading 1 to 3, against the criteria age, oral health and general health. Later it made a summation of the scores of all family members and held an average. This average is added to a familiar note finds that socioeconomic status and housing. The need felt by the user was also considered in footnote family. Results: we obtained an instrument for assessing oral health in simple, easy to understand and handle and that makes the ACS, in particular, a link between the patient and staff, a waiting list of more equitable, reorientation of family screening , characterization of seeking medical assistance for micro-areas for planning educational activities, reducing the number of emergencies and greater integration between the professional team.Conclusion: it was observed during the deliberations that in addition to the reorganization of demand there was a gain in quality for professionals in the unit that came to better understand, deal with specific aspects of dentistry and contributed their knowledge and insights in the construction of the evaluation form and in redirecting the flow, bringing dental issues closer to the day-to-day team. There was also a satisfying response team to provide the families who waited in the waiting list...