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Is the technical quality of root fillings associated with socioeconomic status?


 
 
 Socioeconomically better-off tend to receive better care, and to benefit more from care they receive, than the less well-off. The technical quality of root fillings can be assessed radiographically. Our aim was to investigate differences in the technical quality of root fillings according to socioeconomic status not studied before.
 
 
 
 In the Finnish Health 2000 Survey, a sample of 8 028 over 29-year-old adults was selected by a stratified two-staged cluster sampling. Of these, 6 115 (76%) underwent panoramic radiography. A total of 7 986 endodontically treated teeth were detected among 3 905 participants. The criterion for a technically inadequate root filling was a distance from the root filling to the root apex of over 3 mm or material over the apex. Education, employment status and household income were used as measures of socioeconomic status. Differences in the quality of root fillings according to socioeconomic status were investigated using the Multiple Additive Regression Tree mediation analysis, taking into account age, gender and tooth type of the root filled tooth.
 
 
 
 Almost half (47%) of the root fillings were inadequate. Root filling quality was associated particularly with age of the participant and type of tooth. Mediation analysis showed that among the over 64-year-olds, higher education or income were associated with a slightly higher probability of inadequate root filling quality (ORs 1.15-1.20, p < 0.05). Among the under 65-year-olds, age of the participant and type of tooth explained the observed variations in root filling quality according to socieconomic status, and socioeconomic status had no influence (ORs 0.99-1.02, p > 0.05).
 
 
 
 Those in a lower socioeconomic status had not received poorer endodontic treatment quality. It seems that those in a lower socioeconomic status are not prone to receive poorer quality care in endodontic setting, that they tend to receive in longer and more socially complex treatments.
 
 
 
 Variations in the technical quality of root fillings by socioeconomic status has not been studied. Lower socioeconomic status was not associated with poorer technical quality of root fillings.
