Prevalence and Factors Associated with the Utilization of Dental Care Services among Factory Workers in Nava Nakorn Industrial Estate, Pathumthani Province, Thailand
Jeeratip Jaidee MS*, Amornrat Ratanasiri PhD*, Supaporn Chatrchaiwiwatana PhD**, Surasak Soonthon PhD***
Affiliation : * Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand ** Faculty of Dentistry, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand *** Department of Pharmacology, Sirindhorn Public Health College, Suphanburi, Thailand
Objective : The present study aimed to find out the utilization prevalence of dental care services among factory workers over
a period of one year and factors associated with utilization of dental care services.
Material and Method: This was a cross-sectional analytic study. The study population was factory workers in Nava Nakorn
Industrial Estate randomly sampled using Probability Proportion to Size Cluster Sampling Method. The tool was a questionnaire
about utilization of dental care services.
Results : Among the sample group of 1,500 workers from 16 factories, almost 2/3 (63.9%) had never used any dental care
services in the previous year while only 36.1% did. A multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that workplace,
accommodation, tooth decay, toothache history, transportation, experience in using social security fund for dental care
services, availability and accessibility of dental care services, brushing teeth regularly after meals, using dental care services
regularly in a dental clinic, and agreement with the idea that a tooth extraction and medication by a dentist could reduce the
risk of progression of disease, statistical significance (p-value <0.05), were factors associated with the utilization of dental
care services at R2 (The Nagelkerke R Square) 0.38.
Conclusion : That the prevalence of the factory workers who did not use dental care services during the last one year was 63.9
percent. This study identified three groups of factors associated with the utilization of dental care services as: 1) Predisposing
factors, 2) Enabling factors, and 3) Need factors.
Keywords : Utilization of dental care services, Factory workers, Factors associated, Prevalence of dental care service, industrial estate
