Determinants of Dental Caries Service Utilization among Children under 12 Years-Old in Taiwan

Background: Previous research has shown that caries risk factors have many aspects, such as children themselves, socioeconomic status and education level, diet habit and tooth-brushing habit. According to Andersen Model medical service utilization included predisposing factors, enabling factors and need factors. It is difficult to identify which determinants are most influential in the decision to utilize health care. Culture, economics, access, perceptions, knowledge, belief in efficacy, age, gender roles, and social roles are all among the extensive list of factors influencing both the choice to seek health care and the assessment of which health care option to utilize for prevention and treatment of illness. What makes a child having caries and makes them having caries treatment is not well understood. Objective: We selected children at the age under 12 from 2005 and 2009 National Health Interview Survey in Taiwan combine with the 2004-2011 National insurance data base. The factors including sex, age, parents’ marriage, parents’ education level, family income, diet habit, tooth brushing habit and living area were chosen from the survey. Evaluate the relationship between these factors and caries treatment. Using logistic regression and decision tree to analysis which factor influence the dental utilization of caries in dental health service in Taiwan. To facilitate the understanding of health care utilization complexities, this study contains four principal objectives: 1) comprehension of theoretical approaches to dental care utilization; 2) identification of key variables in connection with dental care utilization; 3) understanding of the sources of variability in dental care utilization; and 4) recognition of the importance of further dental care utilization research.