INFLUENCE OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS ON UNMET DENTAL TREATMENT NEEDS AMONG ADULT POPULATION WORLDWIDE: A STRUCTURED REVIEW

Abstract

The 2015 Global Burden of Disease Study estimated that oral conditions affect 3.5 billion people worldwide with a higher burden among adults and those who are socially and economically disadvantaged. Among all factors, economical barriers play a major role in the unmet dental treatment needs among people from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Studies of inequalities in the use of oral health services by those in need is limited. Therefore, the aim of this structured review is to analyze the existing literature on the influence of socioeconomic status on unmet dental treatment needs in an adult population, worldwide. The review was conducted by searching the database of Pubmed, Google scholar,Science Direct, Cochrane, LILACS and based on inclusion criteria, four relevant studies were found. The articles that met the inclusion criteria were classified regarding methodological quality and risk of bias in categories of high, moderate, or low. The Newcastle Ottawa Scale was used for quality assessment risk of bias.Among these, all 4 studies had low risk of bias and moderate
methodological quality. Using this structured review, we can see less number of studies have been conducted correlating socioeconomic status and unmet dental treatment needs so it can be implied that more studies on such ground should be done in various parts of India as well as the world to understand the severity of the health disparities.