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Determinants of Dental Service Utilization among Adults—The Case of Finland

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Abstract

We examine the determinants of utilization of dentists' services and especially the role of supply factors in the decision-making processes of utilization, using data from the Finnish Health Care Survey of 1996. In a two-part model, care-seeking is modeled by a bivariate probit model taking into account dentist's recall, whereas the number of positive visits to the dentist is modeled by a zero-truncated negative binomial model. Recall turns out to be a central determinant of care-seeking and is significantly related to variables like income and unemployment. Socioeconomic variables are controlled for as well and are found to be important determinants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Health Economics – CHESS, National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health (STAKES), Lintulahdenkuja 4, P.O. Box 220, FIN-00531, Helsinki, Finland

    Lien Nguyen & Unto Häkkinen

  2. Centre for Health Economics – CHESS, National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health (STAKES), Lintulahdenkuja 4, P.O. Box 220, FIN-00531, Helsinki, Finland

    Gunnar Rosenqvist

  3. Department of Finance and Statistics, Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration, Arkadiankatu 22, P.O. Box 479, FIN-00101, Helsinki, Finland

    Gunnar Rosenqvist

Authors
  1. Lien Nguyen
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  2. Unto Häkkinen
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  3. Gunnar Rosenqvist
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Correspondence to Lien Nguyen.

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Nguyen, L., Häkkinen, U. & Rosenqvist, G. Determinants of Dental Service Utilization among Adults—The Case of Finland. Health Care Manage Sci 8, 335–345 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10729-005-4143-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10729-005-4143-7

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