Factors related to utilization of dental services among working age during the Corona Virus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic situation: A case study of the area responsible for Nang Rong hospital, Buriram

Abstract

This cross-sectional descriptive study aimed to investigate the utilization of dental services and its related factors during the COVID-19 pandemic situation in working age group in area of responsible of Nang Rong Hospital, Buriram Province. The sample consisted of 325 working age people. The data were collected in August, 2022 by using questionnaires with the reliability between 0.71 and 0.93. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square test, Fisher’s Exact test and Odds ratio.

The results showed that 40 percent of the samples utilized the dental services during the COVID-19 pandemic situation in the past one year.  Age, occupations, medical condition and dental treatment need were significantly related to utilization of dental services (p value) = 0.009, 0.014, 0.038, 0.001, respectively). Individuals age 36 years old or older used dental services twice as much as those aged 18-35 years old (OR = 2.01, 95%CI: 1.18 to 3.40). Farmers used the dental services 1.77 times more than the non-farmers (OR =1.77, 95%CI: 1.12 to 2.79). Individuals with medical condition were 1.79 times as likely to use dental services than those without medical condition (OR = 1.79, 95%CI: 1.03 to 3.31). Those needed dental treatment had 3.4 times higher chance to receive dental services than those who did not (OR = 3.40, 95%CI: 2.14 to 5.41).