Dental utilization disparities in a Jewish context: reasons and potential solutions

Abstract

Demographic discrepancies in dental healthcare utilization and access to care have historically been studied and attributed to such factors as socioeconomic status, race, and ethnicity. Such potential discrepancies and contributing factors amongst the Jewish population have been little explore. OBJECTIVE: To examine the frequency of dental visits among Jewish subgroups and explored possible explanatory factors for differences in dental healthcare utilization, such as financial constraints, dental anxiety, religious perspectives on health, lack of perceived need, poor accessibility, and scheduling conflicts. BASIC RESEARCH DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. PARTICIPANTS: A religiously diverse non-clinical sample of 169 Jews completed measures on demographics, dental visit frequency, dental anxiety, and general religiousness. RESULTS: On average, Orthodox Jews visit the dentist less often than non-Orthodox Jews (OR = 0.43) and Ultra-Orthodox Jews markedly less (OR = 0.23). Moreover, differences between these groups in dental visits were largely mediated by differences in dental anxiety, poor accessibility, lack of perceived need and scheduling conflicts. CONCLUSION: These results identify a population that is at risk for poor oral health and suggests possible preventive and corrective interventions.