Clinical and non-clinical variables associated with preventive and curative dental service utilisation: a cross-sectional study among adolescents and young adults in Central Mexico

OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to identify preventive and curative dental health service utilisation (DHSU) in the context of associated clinical and non-clinical factors among adolescents and young adults in Mexico. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Applicants to a public university in Mexico. PARTICIPANTS: Participants were 638 adolescents and young adults aged 16–25 randomly selected from university applicants. INTERVENTIONS: Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire filled out by the students. For assessment of dental caries experience, we used the index of decayed, missing and filled teeth. PRIMARY OUTCOME: The dependent variable was DHSU in the previous 12 months, coded as 0=non-use, 1=use of curative services and 2=use of preventive services. RESULTS: The mean age was 18.76±1.76 years, and 49.2% were women. The prevalence of DHSU was 40.9% (95% CI 37.1 to 44.8) for curative services and 22.9% (95% CI 19.7 to 26.3) for preventive services. The variables associated with curative services were age, sex, mother’s education, dental pain in the previous 12 months, caries experience, use of self-care devices and oral health knowledge. For preventive services, the variables associated were mother’s education, dental pain in the previous 12 months, caries experience, use of self-care devices and self-perception of oral health. CONCLUSIONS: While differences emerged by type of service, a number of variables (sociodemographic and socioeconomic characteristics as well as dental factors) remained in the final model. Greater oral health needs and socioeconomic inequalities remained as predictors of both types of DHSU. Given the differences revealed by our study, oral health policies should refer those seeking dental care for oral diseases to preventive services, and promote the use of such services among the poorer and less educated population groups.