Abstract
The purpose of this study was to describe dental health services utilization and identify factors which influenced a group of independently living elderly persons in an urban area of Japan. The study sample consisted of 2,990 participants, 83% of the total sample of the Senior Citizen's College, who were 60 years and over. Their dental utilization and satisfaction with dental treatment were measured by a questionnaire from 1995 to 1998. The mean age of the subjects was 66.5 years and 52% were male. Sixty percent of the subjects had visited a dentist within the previous year, and 33% of them had received a regular oral health check-up. The majority of the subjects (63%) were satisfied with their dental treatment. A multiple stepwise logistic regression analysis showed that dental services utilization had a significant positive association with presence of teeth (p < 0.001), being male (p < 0.01) and satisfaction with financial status (p < 0.05). A regular oral health check-ups had a significant association with presence of teeth (p < 0.001), satisfaction with financial status (p < 0.05) and aging (p = 0.001). Dental health services utilization was related to the presence of teeth and financial status, rather than age or medical conditions, among independently living elderly persons in an urban area of Japan.
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