Premium
Dentist‐patient relationships and oral health impact in Australian adults
Author(s) -
Song YoungHa,
Luzzi Liana,
Chrisopoulos Sergio,
Brennan David
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
community dentistry and oral epidemiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.061
H-Index - 101
eISSN - 1600-0528
pISSN - 0301-5661
DOI - 10.1111/cdoe.12534
Subject(s) - medicine , confounding , bivariate analysis , cross sectional study , oral health , quality of life (healthcare) , socioeconomic status , bayesian multivariate linear regression , multivariate statistics , demography , multivariate analysis , regression analysis , dentistry , environmental health , population , statistics , mathematics , nursing , pathology , sociology
Objectives Dentist‐patient relationships (DPRs) are a key component in clinical encounters with potential benefits for oral health outcomes. This study aimed to investigate whether better DPR variables are associated with higher oral health‐related quality of life (OHRQoL). Methods A total of 12 245 adults aged 18 years or over were randomly sampled from South Australia in 2015‐2016. Data were collected from self‐complete questionnaires and analysed as a cross‐sectional design. The outcome variable was the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP‐14). Explanatory DPR variables included trust in dentists, satisfaction with dental care, and dental fear. Covariates comprising oral health behaviours, dental services, demographics, and socioeconomic status were included as potential confounding variables. Bivariate correlation analyses and multivariable linear regression were performed for the associations among explanatory, outcome variables and other covariates. Results Response data were analysed from 4220 participants (response rate = 41.9%). Unadjusted mean total scores of DPR variables and OHIP‐14 were associated with most of the study participants' characteristics ( P < .05). Bivariate correlations among DPR variables and OHIP‐14 showed a diverse range of coefficients (| r | or | ρ |=0.22‐0.67). Multivariable regression analyses in both individual/clustered block entry and full model indicated that higher satisfaction and less dental fear (B = –0.039 and 0.316, respectively in the full model) were associated with lower OHIP‐14 after adjusting for possible confounders ( P < .01). Conclusions This study found that favourable DPR variables, mainly greater satisfaction and less dental fear are positively associated with better OHRQoL. Further studies are warranted to investigate the causality and mediation/moderation of DPR variables on oral health outcomes.