Objectives Receiving proper dental care plays a significant role in maintaining good oral health. We investigated the relationship between regional deprivation and dental care utilization.
Methods Multilevel logistic regression was used to identify the relationship between the regional deprivation level and dental care utilization purpose, adjusting for individual-level variables, in adults aged 19+ in the 2008 Korean Community Health Survey (n=220 258).
Results Among Korean adults, 12.8% used dental care to undergo examination and 21.0% visited a dentist for other reasons. In the final model, regional deprivation level was associated with significant variations in dental care utilization for examination (p<0.001). However, this relationship was not shown with dental care utilization for other reasons in the final model.
Conclusions This study’s findings suggest that policy interventions should be considered to reduce regional variations in rates of dental care utilization for examination.
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