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Dental care utilization in a Swedish county in 1993 and 2003.

The aim of the present study is to analyse factors influencing the patterns of utilization of dental care in an adult urban Swedish population aged between 30 and 80 in the years 1993 and 2003. This study is part of two large epidemiological dental studies of randomly selected individuals, performed in 1993 and 2003. It comprises clinical and questionnaire data from 555 and 505 individuals in the two studyyears. In 1993, more patients visited the private dental care system more often than the public system. This difference still existed in 2003, but to a 50% lower extent. All age groups had less utilization of dental care in 2003 than in 1993. The largest change was seen in the 30-year age group in utilization patterns of dental care between the two study years. A hierarchical block regression method was performed in four steps, analysing utilization for the two study years separately. The dental service system influenced the utilization patterns significantly for both years. The health factors strengthened this main result. Irrespective of dental health, patients were predicted to visit the private dental care service system more often in both 1993 and 2003. The socio-economic differences between people in Sweden were of no consequence for dental care utilization. As to age and attitude towards treatment costs, a substantial change was observed and might reflect a change in social patterns with greater inequalities, but the overall picture of equal access in dental care in Sweden remains.