Dental healthcare utilisation among young adults who were in societal out‐of‐home care as children: A Swedish National Cohort Study. (23rd July 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Berlin, Marie; Mensah, Tita; Lundgren, Frida; Klingberg, Gunilla; Hjern, Anders; Vinnerljung, Bo; Cederlund, Andreas
• Other Names: Vinnerljung Bo guestEditor.; Hjern Anders guestEditor.
• Is Part Of: International journal of social welfare. Volume 27:Number 4(2018:Oct.)
• Page Start: 325
• Page End: 336
• Publication Date: 2018-07-23
• Subjects: societal care -- out‐of‐home care -- short‐term care -- long‐term care -- teen care -- dental care -- dental health -- dentist visits -- Dental Health Register; Social service -- Periodicals; Public welfare -- Periodicals; Social service -- Scandinavia -- Periodicals; Public welfare -- Scandinavia -- Periodicals; 361
• DOI: 10.1111/ijsw.12334
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1369-6866

Abstract

Abstract : We used Swedish national registers to analyse dental health care among young adults with childhood experience of out‐of‐home care (OHC), in Cox regression analyses. All 1.7 million Swedish residents born in 1980–1994 were included, of whom 4% had been in OHC. The population was followed up in the Dental Health Register from age 20 to 29, during the period 2009–2014. We found that persons with short or long OHC experience made emergency dental care visits more often than their majority‐population peers: 17–23% versus 9–10%, (adjusted Hazard ratios [HR:s] 1.60–2.02); they more often had tooth extractions, 9–12% versus 3% (HR:s 2.33–3.03); but less regularly visited a dentist for planned check‐ups, 61–77% versus 80–87% (HR:s 0.76–0.78). Since dental health in young adulthood reflects dental health and dental care in childhood, the findings of this study call for improved preventive dental health care for children in OHC.