Utilization of dental health services by Danish adolescents attending private or public dental health care systems

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

The objectives of the study were: 1) to describe the choice of dental care system among 16-year-olds, 2) to describe the utilization of dental services among 16-17-year-olds enrolled in either public or private dental care systems, and to compare the dental services provided by the alternative systems. The study comprised 1,245 adolescents from 3 municipalities; the historical cohort study design was applied; and data were collected from dental records (public dental service) and dental claims (private practice). At age 16, 12% preferred being enrolled in the private practice system, while 88% remained in the public dental care system. During the 2-year study period the attendance rate was 99% for the public system, while 90% attended the private practice system (P< 0.001). Preventive dental services were provided more frequently by the public than the private system (P< 0.001). Despite the fact that the economic barrier was eliminated a lower attendance rate was observed for patients transferred to the private practice system.

Original languageEnglish
JournalActa Odontologica Scandinavica
Volume60
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)103-7
Number of pages5
ISSN0001-6357
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2002

    Research areas

  • Adolescent, Adolescent Behavior, Analysis of Variance, Attitude to Health, Chi-Square Distribution, Choice Behavior, Cohort Studies, DMF Index, Denmark, Dental Health Services, Dental Restoration, Permanent, Female, Fluorides, Topical, Humans, Male, Preventive Dentistry, Private Practice, Public Health Dentistry, Radiography, Dental, Statistics as Topic, Tooth Extraction, Comparative Study, Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

ID: 173905334