Factors Associated with Non-Attendance at Dental Preventive Care in Slovak High School Students

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the factors associated with the avoidance of dental preventive care in high school students and their parents in the framework of The Youth and Parents Risk Factor Behavior Survey in Slovakia, the ongoing cross-sectional school-based survey of students and their parents or legal representatives. The data were collected using two separate standardized questionnaires: (i) the questionnaire for students (n = 515) and (ii) the questionnaire for parents (n = 681). The study group included 57 high school students (54.4% males) who did not visit the dentist for preventive care in the previous year. The control group included 458 students (35.8% males) who visited a dentist for preventive care at least once in the previous year. A significantly higher number of males (54.4%), older adolescents, and young adults (21.8%; 20.0%) were not visiting dental preventive care regularly. Incomplete family (56.1%), stressful situations at home (17.5%), and feeling unwell were the factors contributing to the avoidance of dental preventive care. More than 34.5% of adolescents and young adults were not visiting either dental preventive care or pediatric preventive care (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 5.14; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.40, 10.99). Children of divorced mothers and mothers with household income lower than EUR 900 had significantly higher dental care avoidance in bivariate analysis. A significantly higher percentage of fathers from the exposed group were not visiting dental preventive care regularly (47.8%, p < 0.05). The results of the study can be used as an educational intervention step focusing on the parental influence on adolescent and young adults’ behavior and as a challenge for the improvement of dental preventive care in older adolescents and young adults.