Investigating the “inverse care law” in dental care: a comparative analysis of Canadian jurisdictions
Open accessAbstract
Objectives To compare physician and dentist visits nationally and at the provincial/territorial level and to assess the extent of the "inverse care law" in dental care among different age groups in the same way.Methods Publicly available data from the 2007 to 2008 Canadian Community Health Survey were utilized to investigate physician and dentist visits in the past 12 months in relation to self-perceived general and oral health by performing descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression, controlling for age, sex, education, income, and physician/dentist population ratios. Analysis was conducted for all participants and stratified by age groups - children (12-17 years), adults (18-64 years) and seniors (65 years and over).Results Nationally and provincially/territorially, it appears that the "inverse care law" persists for dental care but is not present for physician care. Specifically, when comparing to those with excellent general/oral health, individuals with poor general health were 2.71 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.70-2.72) times more likely to visit physicians, and individuals with poor oral health were 2.16 (95% CI: 2.16-2.17) times less likely to visit dentists. Stratified analyses by age showed more variability in the extent of the "inverse care law" in children and seniors compared to adults.Conclusions The "inverse care law" in dental care exists both nationally and provincially/territorially among different age groups. Given this, it is important to assess the government's role in improving access to, and utilization of, dental care in Canada.
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- Authors
- Dehmoobadsharifabadi, A., Singhal, S., & Quiñonez, C.
- Affiliations
- University of Toronto (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Dehmoobadsharifabadi, Armita
- Venue
- Canadian Journal of Public Health
- Published
- 2016-11
- Volume
- 107
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- e538-e544
- ISSN
- 0008-4263 (ISSN-L)
- 1920-7476
- PMC
- PMC6972048
- OpenAlex
- W2591867139
- Cited by
- 40
- References
- 20
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 7 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 3
- FWCI
- 3.48
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Canadian Journal of Public Health (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Dentistry › Periodontics › Dental Health and Care Utilization
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Health Promotion and Cardiovascular Prevention
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Primary Care and Health Outcomes
- Keywords
- inverse care law, dental care utilization, dental visits, physician visits, oral health, health perception, health disparities, access to dental care, age groups, Canadian provinces and territories, Canadian Community Health Survey
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Canada, Child, Dental Care, Dentists, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Office Visits, Physicians, Health Care Surveys, Young Adult
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