The Big Picture

Cost-related dental non-attendance among seniors

Background

The discussion regarding the provision of more comprehensive social insurance coverage to alleviate cost-related inaccessibility of dental care and reduce inequalities in oral health and care is based on the belief that dental care costs are a major potential barrier for dental care access. However, factors other than cost determine care access. To provide information to policymakers who seek to address inequalities in care access, the data from wave one of the Survey of Health, Ageing, and

Methods

The data from SHARE offer information on recent dental non-attendance and care that is not accessed because of cost among persons age 50 years or older from 11 European countries and Israel. The study sample used included 13,935 persons who did not access dental care within the previous year. Respondents’ average age was 67 years (range 50 to 103 years), and 54% were women.

Results

The educational level of the respondents was pre-/primary for nearly half, secondary for 39%, and tertiary for 11%. More than two thirds of the individuals were able to bite and chew on hard foods. More than a third felt their general health was in the middle of the range, about a third rated general health higher, and about 30% had a lower level of general health.

An average of 2.2% of the respondents who did not access dental care in the past year reported the reason to be cost. Israel had the

Discussion

Just 2.2% of the non-use of dental services in older adults in 11 European countries and Israel was attributed to cost. The levels of cost-related non-use of dental care differed significantly between the countries, ranging from nearly 7% in Israel to just half a percent in Austria. Both compromised oral and general health and lower socioeconomic status significantly increased the chance that persons would report non-use of dental care related to cost.