Dental service sector and patient-reported oral health outcomes: Modification by trust in dentists

Youngha Song; Pedro Santiago; Rahul Nair; Hyun-Jae Cho; David Brennan

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2023.1090911

Dental service sector and patient-reported oral health outcomes: Modification by trust in dentists

Front Public Health. 2023 Mar 15:11:1090911. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1090911. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Youngha Song^{1

2}, Pedro Santiago³, Rahul Nair⁴, Hyun-Jae Cho^{1

2}, David Brennan³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Preventive and Social Dentistry, School of Dentistry, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
² Dental Research Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
³ Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
⁴ Quality and Safety of Oral Health Care Radboud UMC, Nijmegen, Netherlands.

Abstract

Objective: The study aimed to examine the association between patient-reported oral health outcomes and the dental service sector and trust in dentists. The possible interaction effect of trust on this association was also explored.

Methods: Randomly selected adults aged over 18 years living in South Australia were surveyed using self-administered questionnaires. The outcome variables were self-rated dental health and the evaluation outcome of the Oral Health Impact Profile. The dental service sector and the Dentist Trust Scale were included in bivariate and adjusted analyses with sociodemographic covariates.

Results: Data from 4,027 respondents were analyzed. Unadjusted analysis showed that poor dental health and oral health impact were associated with sociodemographic characteristics, including lower income/education, public dental service, and lower trust in dentists (p < 0.01). Adjusted associations were similarly maintained (p < 0.05) but attenuated with the loss of statistical significance, mainly in the trust tertiles. Lower trust in dentists in the private sector had an interaction effect, with a higher prevalence ratio of oral health impact (prevalence ratio = 1.51; 95% confidence interval, 1.06-2.14; p < 0.05).

Conclusion: Patient-reported oral health outcomes were associated with sociodemographic characteristics, the dental service sector, and trust in dentists.

Implications for public health: The inequality of oral health outcomes between dental service sectors needs to be addressed both independently and in association with covariates including socioeconomic disadvantage.

Keywords: South Australia; dental care; oral health; patient reported outcome measures; trust.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Dental Care
Dentists
Humans
Middle Aged
Oral Health*
Surveys and Questionnaires
Trust*

Grants and funding

This study was funded by a National Health and Medical Research Council project grant (1049943). The contents are solely the responsibility of the administering institution and authors and do not reflect the views of NHMRC.