Avoidance dental visit, the impact of predictor factors: A cross-sectional study in Kerman, Iran

BACKGROUND AND AIM: In spite of different reforms and programs, the evidence indicates that Iran dental health sector has not been able to improve the dental situation and decrease the unmet needs. This study assessed the factors which affect the avoiding dental visit during one year ago because of its costs. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was performed on 1158 household heads which were selected through multi-stage sampling in Kerman, Iran, and questioned house by house using trained interviewers. The association of dichotomous outcome variables of "have you avoided or postponed dental visit during 1 years ago in spite of need because of its costs?" with 3 types of predictor variables of household heads including sex as binary predictor, age as continuous predictor, and income and education as categorical variables studied using regression logistics. RESULTS: The odds ratio (OR) of avoiding dental visit because of its costs in men was 1.4 times more than women (P = 0.035). The OR decreased by 0.01 with each year increase in age (P = 0.017). Furthermore, the OR is people with incomes 267-803, 803-1339 and > 1339 USD in comparison with the heads incomes under 267 USD was 0.31, 0.02, 0.01, respectively (P = 0.001), and in people with educational level < diploma, diploma, Bachelor of Science (BSc), Master of Science (MSc) and Doctor of Medicine (MD)/Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in comparison with illiterate/elementary decreased by 0.51, 0.13, 0.04, 0.01 and 0.02, respectively (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The factors of older ages, being a woman, increasing education and income level decrease the rate of avoiding a dental visit. In the absence of strong dental health insurance, these factors determine the utilization of the services which lead to horizontal inequality.