The Impact of Socio-Economic Determinants on Dental Public Health and Oral Hygiene in Pakistan

Abstract

Dental disparities and poor oral hygiene are an established problem of dental public health in the less developed countries. Pakistan is not an exception to this: socio economic oral health disparities exist in Pakistan's society at a large scale. As Pakistan is a developing economy, it allocates funds far lesser than the international standard set by World Health Organization (WHO) of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for health sector. A large part of population lives in low income category, which exacerbates the problem further. The present study focuses on discussing the GDP allocation to health sector in addition to figuring out the impact of socio-economic factors on oral hygiene. The sample was divided into two categories: high income group and low income group. Both primary and secondary data have been used; the data was collected using a scale of oral health. The analyzed data showed that people with low socio-economic status have low profile dental health. They visit the dentist only when they have a severe problem because they are either unaware of oral hygiene or don't pay heed to it.