Effect of Age and Immigration Status on the Oral Health and Dental Care Utilization of the Canadian population

The study was done to understand the oral health and dental-services utilization of older immigrants in Canada when compared to non-immigrant seniors and is a secondary analysis of data from the 2008/09 Canadian Community Health Survey: Healthy Aging component on respondents aged 45 and over. The outcome variables were self-reported oral health and dentist visits. Results indicate household income and education are significant predictors for both immigrant and non-immigrant seniors. Significant predictors for immigrant seniors include age, sex, marital status, household income, level of education and physician visits, while for non-immigrant seniors, household income and level of education were significant. Approaches for improving the oral health of immigrant seniors include: oral health education, dental screening, and awareness-raising. Approaches for improving dental utilization among immigrant seniors include: making dental care part of Canada’s universal health-care system, improving accessibility and changing legislation to improve the availability and access to dental insurance.M.Sc