Factors related to the consumption of illegal dental treatments in Korean adults

Ok, Tae Young; Kim, Man Kyong; Han, Dong Hun; Kim, Min Ji; Jeong, Seung Hwa; Kim, Jin Bom

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
The aim of the study was to analyze the factors that are related to the illegal dental treatment experience (IDTX), among the Korean adults.
METHODS
The raw data for the analysis of IDTX, among the Korean adults, which were aged 17 years and over, were obtained from the dataset of the Korean National Oral Health Survey (KNOHS), which was conducted in 2006. Stratified weighted total 11,808 samples were selected by region and clustered sampling methods. The data of weighted total 11,808 samples were analyzed, using a chi-square test and a logistic regression analysis, by demographic socioeconomic variables of age, gender, area, educational level, occupation, national health insurance, and monthly income.
RESULTS
IDTX rate was under 10%, among the adults aged 35~44 years or below the age group. However, it increased to 18.9%, among the adults aged 45~54 years and overtook over 30% among the adults 55 years and over. The age group of high IDTX rate was coincided to the age group of high number of lost teeth. Most of IDTX were presumed to prosthetic treatments. In IDTX rate of samples, aged 45 years and over, odds ratio of females' was 1.3, compared to that of the males'; odds ratio of metropolitan area, 1.2 compared to rural area. IDTX rate was higher among the middle school or below educational level group compared to that of college or over educational level group. IDTX rate of medicaid or not joined to national health insurance group was 31.3%, higher than that of national health insurance group. IDTX rates of low monthly income group, less than 4 million KRW were higher than monthly income group of 4 million KRW or more.
CONCLUSIONS
To supply the prosthetic treatments for the population of medicaid and national health insurance is needed to remove illegal dental treatments in Korea.