Adams Claire, Slack-Smith Linda, Larson Ann, O'Grady Martin
School of Dentistry and School of Population Health, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia.
Aust J Rural Health. 2004 Aug;12(4):143-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1440-1854.2004.00599.x.
It has been reported that the aged in rural areas may not access regular dental care. The aim of this study was to describe dental visits for those 60 years of age and older living in urban, rural and remote locations in Western Australia and to determine factors associated with such visits. The main outcome was having had a dental visit in the previous 12 months.
A cross-sectional telephone survey was conducted.
Urban, rural and remote locations in Western Australia.
A total of 2100 participants, 60 years of age and older.
The present study demonstrated that people in rural and remote areas of Western Australia had a longer time since their last dental visit than people in urban areas. Within each sex, age, country of birth, income, occupation and education group, the highest proportion of people having attended a dentist in the previous 12 months was in urban areas and the lowest was in remote areas. Controlling for sex, age, education and oral health status, compared to urban residents, rural residents were 14% less likely to have seen a dentist and remote residents were 27% less likely.
The present study demonstrated that for the aged sector of the Western Australian population, geographical location is a major factor in the frequency of use of dental services and the reasons for dental visits. This raises concerns that improvement of oral health by prevention and early detection of tooth and gum problems is less likely to occur in rural and remote areas than in urban areas.
据报道，农村地区的老年人可能无法获得定期的牙科护理。本研究的目的是描述居住在西澳大利亚城市、农村和偏远地区的60岁及以上人群的牙科就诊情况，并确定与此类就诊相关的因素。主要结果是在过去12个月内进行过牙科就诊。
进行了一项横断面电话调查。
西澳大利亚的城市、农村和偏远地区。
共有2100名60岁及以上的参与者。
本研究表明，西澳大利亚农村和偏远地区的人们自上次牙科就诊以来的时间比城市地区的人更长。在每个性别、年龄、出生国家、收入、职业和教育组中，过去12个月内看过牙医的人群比例最高的是城市地区，最低的是偏远地区。在控制了性别、年龄、教育和口腔健康状况后，与城市居民相比，农村居民看牙医的可能性低14%，偏远居民低27%。
本研究表明，对于西澳大利亚老年人群体而言，地理位置是牙科服务使用频率和就诊原因的主要因素。这引发了人们的担忧，即与城市地区相比，农村和偏远地区通过预防和早期发现牙齿和牙龈问题来改善口腔健康的可能性较小。
