Multivariate method to identify inequalities in oral healthcare access

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to apply a multivariate method for municipality's classification according access to oral health in adults. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a cross-sectional epidemiological study. Were used multivariate classification called nonhierarchical cluster analysis K-means. The strategy brings together municipalities’ similarity as access to oral health, where the most similar are next and the most different from getting further away. In addition, it allows reducing the intragroup variance and maximizing intergroup variance. It was assumed the number of four groups. RESULTS: Among adults, 3,185 (52.63%) visited the dentist less than a year, and 357 (5.90%) have never been to the dentist. Homogeneous groups showed differences in the time since the last visit to the dentist for adults. The analysis of variance by the F statistic rejected the hypothesis that the variances are equal for the variables related to the time since the last visit to the dentist. CONCLUSION: It was possible to identify the inequalities in the access to oral healthcare services for adults and locate spatially municipalities whose subjects take longer to visit the dentist.