Utilization of dental care among mothers and children from multicultural families / 대한구강보건학회지

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to identify the status of dental care utilization among mothers and children from multicultural families and analyzing the related factors. METHODS: The subjects in this study were 131 mothers from multicultural families and 175 mothers from Korean (control) families who were selected by convenience sampling from the city of Nonsan. The dental care utilization among mothers and children from multicultural families and mothers and children from Korean families were compared. A questionnaire survey was conducted using the self-administration method for mothers from Korean families and by a face-to-face interviewing method for mothers from multicultural families. RESULTS: The proportion of subjects who visited the dentist's office in the past year was not different between the two groups of mothers. However, this proportion was lower in children from multicultural families than those from Korean families. The factors that influenced the visit to dental clinics were age and spouse's age among multicultural mothers and age, spouse's age, personal perceptions about oral health, and oral health concerns among Korean mothers. The factors that influenced dental clinic visits were mother's career, household income, education level of the mother, children's age, mother's dental clinic visits, mother's perception of children's oral health among multicultural children and father's age, marriage duration of parents, children's age, mother's dental clinical visit, and the mother's concerns about children's oral health among Korean children. CONCLUSIONS: Multicultural children visit the dental clinic a lot less than Korean children. Social economic factors such as household income, education level affect the use of dental clinic services by multicultural families.