Analysis of inequality trends in dental caries, deep periodontal pockets, and severe tooth loss according to income level of adults using data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey / 대한구강보건학회지

ABSTRACT

Objectives@#The purpose of this study is to analyze the trend of inequality in dental caries, deep periodontal pockets, and severe tooth loss according to the income level of adults using data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). @*Methods@#The raw data from the 4th wave (2007-2009) to the 7th wave (2016-2018) were downloaded from the KNHANES website. The analytical subjects were 19 years of age or older who completed oral examinations and were classified differently according to the prevalence characteristics of each clinical indicator. The prevalence of permanent tooth caries (19 years +), deep periodontal pockets (30 years +), total tooth loss (50 years +), and 20 teeth and over (70 years +) were estimated according to the guidebook for data users. The absolute difference (AD) between the lowest and highest income levels and the prevalence ratio (PR) were calculated. All statistical analyses were performed with STATA version 13. @*Results@#The prevalence of permanent tooth caries decreased by 6.7%, but the AD increased by 3.4% and the PR was statistically significant. The prevalence of deep periodontal pockets was 6-10%, but the AD increased by 1.7%, and the PR of 7th wave rapidly increased. The prevalence of total tooth loss decreased by 1.5%, but in the 7th wave, the AD and the PR rapidly increased. The prevalence of 20 teeth and over increased by 10.9%, but the AD increased by ―4.3%, and the PR was statistically significant in the first and second quantiles of all waves. @*Conclusions@#In Korean adults, overall oral health status has improved over the past decade, but oral health inequality according to income level has generally worsened. Therefore, policy development including intervention in social determinants is needed to reduce the oral health inequality identified in this study.