Demand for Dental Services in Shiraz, Iran, 2013

This cross-sectional and descriptive-analytic study aimed to estimate the demands for the use of dental services by Shirazi inhabitants in Iran from June 2013 to October 2013. Six hundred eighty subjects older than 18 years were selected from among the people living in Shiraz, using a multistage sampling method. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 16.0 and Stata 11.0. The results showed that the factors affecting the number of referrals to the dental services centers and the use of these services included the age groups of 28 to 37 and 38 to 47 years, household expenses per month, and having supplementary health insurance coverage (P < .05). According to the results, in order to improve access to dental services and increase the probability of utilizing such services by people in need, the researchers recommend that the authorities should design and develop basic and supplementary health insurance plans to cover different types of dental services, allocate subsidies to dental health services, and increase the knowledge of all the people in different age groups about adherence to dental health principles and prevention of oral and dental diseases.