ATTITUDES TOWARDS FINANCING OF DENTAL-CARE IN A SWEDISH POPULATION

The aim of the present study was to describe attitudes towards financi ng of dental care and to investigate the importance of different backg round factors for these attitudes. A questionnaire was sent to a rando m sample of 3000 persons aged 45-69 years, living in Orebo County, Swe den, with 79.4% response. In the questionnaire the respondents indicat ed their agreement with four statements on issues concerning financing of dental care, using visual analogue scales. After the answers had b een dichotomized, 45% agreed that 'all dental care should be free of c harge', 32% agreed that 'all dental care should be provided by the cou nty', 46% agreed that 'it is more important to use resources on heart transplants than on dental care', and 43% agreed that 'no public reimb ursement should be given to cosmetic dental care'. The attitudes were associated with the following background factors: gender, age, marital status, place of residence, education, socioeconomic status, dental c are system, dentist of choice, time since last dentist contact, and at titudes toward dental appearance and dental function. Different backgr ound factors were associated with each of the four different attitudes , and only educational level seemed to covary with all four attitudes. It is concluded that attitudes towards financing of dental care varie d considerably within this population and that the different attitudes could be related to different background factors.