Research on dental service utilization and untreated conditions among Koreans aged 65 and above / 대한구강보건학회지

Objectives@#This study used data from the seventh National Health and Nutrition Survey, a dataset which signifies that dental services in the country exhibit relatively low health insurance coverage and high copay rates compared to other medical healthcare services. We surveyed the utilization rate of dental care and the prevalence of untreated conditions among Korean elders aged over 65.Furthermore, we aimed to present policy implications to improve dental care accessibility and expand health insurance coverage for elders, especially vulnerable individuals who are bedridden or living alone. @*Methods@#We used raw data from the seventh National Health and Nutrition Survey to investigate Korean elders’ dental service utilization and untreated conditions. We opted for elders aged over 65 and finalized 1,712 subjects for the analysis. Statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS 25.0 (IBM Corp., Chicago, IL, USA). Groups were detailed in terms of strata of variation estimation and elders aged over 65, cluster of district enumeration, and weighted oral survey. We generated a scheme file and employed complex sampling analysis with a statistical significance level of P<0.05. @*Results@#This study intended to survey the rate of dental care use and untreated care of Korean elders over 65 using the seventh National Health and Nutrition Survey data which represents our country. 1. Dental care use rate based on general traits showed statistically significant relevance (P<0.01) with lower age, higher income, higher education level, residence of ‘Dong’, and ‘with’ private insurance. 2. In untreated rate of dental care by general traits showed the significant total of 26.1% with female, lower income, lower education level, ‘recipient’ of basic living, and subjectively poor status of oral health. 3. The multiple answers of the patients who went to the dentists over the past year showed dental care details of dental checkups 54.3%, prosthetic dentistry 32.1%, preventive treatment 30.9%, cavity of root canal treatment 25.7%, gum treatment 17.1%, and tooth extraction 14.7%. 4. The reasons for untreated dental care of those untreated subjects showed the highest 34.0% of economic reason, mild condition 32.3%, lack of time 8.2%, and scared of treatment 8.0% in order. Based on this analysis, we intended to suggest policy implications for the necessity of dental checkup expansion and the activation of prevention treatment. @*Conclusions@#To improve dental care accessibility for elders aged 65 and above, especially the vulnerable individuals who are bedridden or living alone, it is imperative to expand outpatient insurance coverage and tailor the dental services as per their specific needs. Shifting the focus from treatment-oriented health insurance to preventive measures and examination service expansion and invigoration is essential to improve dental health and overall quality of life. It is deduced that expansion of dental care health insurance coverage and checkup services is critical for vulnerable elders, such as those who are bedridden or living alone.

The effects of toothache experience and oral health behavior on Health-Related Quality of Life in Korean adults -using the second edition of the 8th National Health Nutrition Survey (2019-2020) / 대한구강보건학회지

Objectives@#This study aimed to investigate the relationship between toothache, oral health behaviors, and the quality of health-related life of Korean adults. A national nutrition survey representative of Korea was used. The study presents basic material for developing health improvement and dental health programs to highlight the importance of oral health management and Health-Related Quality of Life improvement. @*Methods@#The second edition of the 8th national health nutrition survey data was used for this study. The subjects were 5,922 Korean adults aged 19 years and above. @*Results@#There was a significant difference in gender, age, marital status, education, income, toothache experience, subjective oral health condition, and the number of daily toothbrushes in participants’ Health-Related Quality of Life. For gender, “male” had an overall higher quality of life which was statistically significant. In toothache experience, Health-Related Quality of Life was significantly higher at 0.027 with “none” (P<0.01). In addition, higher conditions of subjective oral health at 0.077 showed a significantly higher quality of life (P<0.01). @*Conclusions@#This study revealed that higher subjective oral health conditions in Korean adults resulted in higher Health-Related Quality of Life and subjectively better oral health conditions. This means that active health management is possible, and concrete systematic health education program development is urgently needed. Oral health improvement can improve Health-Related Quality of Life. It is necessary to recognize the importance of oral health to improve Health-Related Quality of Life through oral health prevention and promotion programs for adults.

Relationship between health risk behaviors, oral health-related behaviors, and experiences of oral symptoms in Korean adolescents: based on 2018 Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey / 대한구강보건학회지

OBJECTIVES: This study investigates the relationship between risky health behaviors, occurrence of oral symptoms, and oral health-related behaviors. METHODS: The subjects were 60,040 adolescents selected from the web-based survey from the 2018 Korean Youth Health Behavior of Korean Center for Disease Control. The data were analyzed using a combined sample analysis method. The software SPSS version 12.0 was used to conduct the analyses. RESULTS: 1. Men were observed to partake in risky health behavior at significantly higher rates than were women in terms of smoking, drinking, drugs, and sexual intercourse. Our data showed the percentages of men taking part in these behaviors to be 21.1%, 46.4%, 1.3%, and 7.6%, respectively (P<0.01). 2. Of all subjects, 49.1% brushed their teeth more than three times a day, and 43.6% brushed more than twice a day. Further, a significantly higher number of men (46.0%) did not brush their teeth after lunch compared with women (29.1%) (P<0.01). 3. Of all subjects, 52.9% had developed oral symptoms in the previous year. The rate of women experiencing oral symptoms was significantly higher, at 58.1%, compared with men (48.1%, P<0.01). 4. Risky health behavior, such as smoking, drinking, drugs, and sexual intercourse, was significantly associated with occurrence of oral symptoms (P<0.01). Those that had not partaken in smoking, drinking, and sexual intercourse were significantly lower by 0.73, 0.87, and 0.89 times, respectively, compared with those that responded with “yes” (P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: We have evaluated the rates of risky health and oral health-related behavior in Korean youth and identify their association with the oral symptoms. It is essential to understand the risks of oral diseases so that appropriate oral health education can be provided to adolescents for promoting behavioral changes.

Dental care utilization by diabetics according to the Korea Health Panel Survey / 대한구강보건학회지

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to examine the difference in dental care utilization between diabetics (diabetes group) and nondiabetics (normal group). METHODS: We examined the data of 5108 subjects enrolled in the Korea Health Panel Survey, every year for three years between 2010 and 2012. Of these, 458 subjects were included in the diabetes group and 458 in the normal group using the propensity score matching method to control confounding variables. To compare dental care utilization by the diabetes and normal groups, we examined the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) using a generalized estimating equation. RESULTS: We found that the odds of dental care utilization by the diabetes group compared with the normal group was significantly high (OR=1.82, 95% CI: 1.60-2.09). The result was consistent according to sensitivity analysis (OR=1.96, 95% CI: 1.63-2.35). CONCLUSIONS: Dental care utilization by the diabetes group was 82% higher than that by the normal group. Therefore, patients with diabetes need to be more concerned about oral health care.

Effect of smoking on utilization of and expenses in ambulatory dental care / 대한구강보건학회지

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effect of smoking on utilization of and expenses in ambulatory dental care. METHODS: The subjects of this study were 5,751 men aged over 20 years selected from the Korea Health Panel data collected during 2010-2012. Pack-years of smoking were calculated based on the survey data. Dental utilization was defined as dental outpatient clinic use least once in three years. The expenses in ambulatory dental care were summed to determine total dental health care spending for three years. To detect the effect of smoking, we used multiple logistic regression analysis for dental utilization and multiple linear regression for expenses in ambulatory dental care after changing log. RESULTS: The pack-years had a significant effect on dental utilization and expenses in participants aged 40-59 years. After controlling for income level, bedtime brushing, and the presence of chronic disease, dental care utilization rates in the over 10 to less than 25 pack-year and the over 25 pack-year groups were about 1.4 (OR=1.37, (P =0.007)) and 1.6 times (OR=1.59, (P =0.001)) those in the 0 pack-year group. In comparison with the 0 pack-year group, the over 10 to less than 25 pack-year group spent 50,000 won more over dental expenses, while the corresponding number for the over 25 pack-year group was about 100,000 won. Thus, the ambulatory dental care expenses increased with the packyears of smoking. CONCLUSIONS: Smoking significantly influenced the utilization and expense in ambulatory dental care in men aged 40-59 years.