The aims of this study were to determine if dental colleges are clustered in selective states in India and if population to dental college admissions (seats) is correlated with regional health, economic, and human development in that country. There are 29 states and seven union territories in India, with 301 dental colleges. This study used publicly available data from the Dental Council of Ind...

Individuals' utilization of dental services depends upon an array of factors, including access to care, financial restrictions, attitudes toward dental care, and dental fear. These factors, in turn, may vary across geographic locations and demographic groups. The goals of this study were to assess the use of dental services in both rural and urban areas of Kentucky and to examine challenges fac...

BACKGROUND The current public health research agenda was to identify the means to reduce oral health inequalities internationally. The objectives of this study were to provide evidence of inequality in unmet dental needs and to find influencing factors attributable to those among South Korean adults. METHODS Pooled cross-sectional data from the fourth Korean National Health and Nutrition Exam...

The purpose of this study was to investigate the general and oral health status of patients at a dental hospital in Tokyo and examine the correlations between general health and oral health items. One hundred and seventy-four (174) new patients at the Dental Hospital of Tokyo Medical and Dental University participated in this study. The Visual Analog Scale (VAS) was employed to investigate dent...

OBJECTIVES To determine oral health literacy (REALD-30) and oral health literacy-related outcome associations, and to calculate if oral health literacy-related outcomes are risk indicators for poor self-reported oral health among rural-dwelling Indigenous Australians. METHODS 468 participants (aged 17-72 years, 63% female) completed a self-report questionnaire. REALD-30 and oral health litera...

Oral Health in America: A Report of the Surgeon General, and the subsequent National Call to Action to Promote Oral Health contributed significantly to raising the awareness of the American public and the dental profession regarding the lack of access to oral health care by many Americans, especially minorities and low income populations, with resulting disparities in oral health. The problem i...

Sustained hyperglycemia affects almost all tissues in the body (1), including those in the oral cavity (2). Oral complications of diabetes include xerostomia, opportunistic infections, greater accumulation of plaque, delayed wound healing, susceptibility to periodontal disease, oral paresthesia, and altered taste (2). Studies suggest a bidirectional adverse relationship between diabetes and per...

OBJECTIVE To assess the association between recent use of dental services, socioeconomic factors and oral health measures among elderly Brazilians. METHODS The sample consisted of elderly individuals aged 65 to 74, who participated in the Brazilian Oral Health Survey in 2010 (Brazil SB-2010). The dependent variable was "recent use of dental services" (last dental visit ≤ 2 years). The indepen...

Poor oral health among low-income people is gaining attention as a significant health care problem. Key barriers to dental services include low rates of dental insurance coverage, limited dental benefits available through public insurance programs, and a lack of dentists willing to serve low-income patients, according to findings from the Center for Studying Health System Change's (HSC) 2007 si...