Abstract
We investigated differences in the technical quality of root fillings according to socioeconomic status. In the Finnish Health 2000 Survey, which comprised a sample of 8,028 adults aged over 29yr, 6,115 underwent panoramic radiography. A total of 7,986 endodontically treated teeth were detected among 3,095 participants. The criterion for a technically inadequate root filling was a distance from the root filling to the root apex of over 3mm or a filling extruding beyond the apex. Educational level, employment status, and income were the measures of socioeconomic status. Differences in the frequency of inadequate root fillings according to socioeconomic status were investigated using a multilevel logistic mixed-effects model taking into account age, gender, number of teeth, and type of root filled tooth. Almost half (46%) of the root fillings were inadequate. Among the over 64-yr-olds, higher education and higher income were associated with a higher probability of having an inadequate root filling. Among the under 65-yr-olds, socioeconomic status was not associated with root filling quality. Contrary to expectation, lower socioeconomic status was not associated with poorer endodontic treatment quality; however, higher income and higher education was associated with higher odds for inadequate root fillings among the over 64-yr-olds.
Highlights
Less is known about differences in the quality of oral health care received as a function of socioeconomic status
Our observation that almost half (46%) of the root fillings were either short or overfilled among Finnish adults aged over 29-yr in the year 2000 is in line with findings from other studies investigating the quality of root fillings [17,18]
The results showed that lower socioeconomic status was not associated with higher odds of technically inadequate root fillings
Summary
There are socioeconomic differences in oral health, use of services, and in the type of care received [4,5,6,7]. Overall, a dentist should be able to perform successful endodontic treatment on all uncomplicated single- and multi-rooted teeth [9,10]. It can be argued that the quality of the accomplished endodontic treatment should not vary according to socioeconomic status when acceptable patient and tooth-related factors (tooth type) are considered. No studies have been conducted to detect socioeconomic differences in the technical quality of root fillings using nationally representative samples. The aim of the study was to investigate differences in the technical quality of root fillings according to socioeconomic status in a nationally representative sample of Finnish adults
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