Proximate determinants of demand for oral health care in the surveyed households of Dharwad city, Karnataka India.

The study was undertaken to identify the factors influential in determining the demand for oral health care in the surveyed households of Dharwad city. Karnataka during May-July 2001. Dharwad city was divided into nine divisions in 1991 census, in which four divisions were selected at random. A sample of 70 households was selected randomly from each division. A total of 1381 persons from 280 households only 208 persons were reported with various oral health problems during reference period of study. A significant positive relationship was observed between oral health care expenditure with the total number of visits (r = 0.4160, P < 0.01), the education of the sick person (r = 0.1983, p < 0.05), and the highest level of education among females (r = 0.1475, P < 0.05) and a significant negative relationship was observed between time gap between onset of disease and contact of health care centre (r = -0.1449, P < 0.05) and family size (r = -0.1518, P < 0.05) with expenditure. Path analysis results showed that, the duration of illness episode, the total number of visits to source of care during the reference period and distance between health care from the residence of the households (in km) are important variables in explaining increased oral health care expenditure.