AUTHOR=Song Youngha , Santiago Pedro , Nair Rahul , Cho Hyun-Jae , Brennan David 

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

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 11 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1090911

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2023.1090911

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=Objective: To examine the association of patient-reported oral health outcomes with dental service sector and trust in dentists. A possible interaction effect of trust on the association was also explored.  
Methods: Randomly selected adults aged 18+ years living in South Australia were surveyed with self-complete questionnaires. Outcome variables were self-rated dental health and the Oral Health Impact Profile. Dental service sector and the Dentist Trust Scale were included in bivariate and adjusted analyses with sociodemographic covariates.
Results: Data were analyzed from 4,027 respondents. 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 trust tertiles. Lower trust in dentists in private sector had an interaction effect with a higher prevalence ratio of oral health impact (PR=1.51; 95% CI 1.06–2.14; p<0.05).
Conclusions: Patient-reported oral health outcomes were associated with sociodemographic characteristics, 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.