Association between Community Social Capital and Access to Dental Check-Ups among Elementary School Children in Japan

Marie Kobayashi, Yusuke Matsuyama, Nobutoshi Nawa, Aya Isumi, Satomi Doi and Takeo Fujiwara ()
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Marie Kobayashi: Department of Global Health Promotion, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo 163-8001, Japan
Yusuke Matsuyama: Department of Global Health Promotion, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo 163-8001, Japan
Nobutoshi Nawa: Department of Global Health Promotion, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo 163-8001, Japan
Aya Isumi: Department of Global Health Promotion, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo 163-8001, Japan
Satomi Doi: Department of Global Health Promotion, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo 163-8001, Japan
Takeo Fujiwara: Department of Global Health Promotion, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo 163-8001, Japan

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 20, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: The association between parental social capital and a child’s access to dental check-ups has been reported, but few studies have focused on dental check-ups. The present study investigated the association between parental social capital and access to dental check-ups among first-grade elementary school children (6–7 years old) in Japan. We analyzed cross-sectional data of first-grade elementary school children (6–7 years old) in Adachi City, Tokyo, Japan. Community social capital (the total score of social trust, cohesion, mutual aid) and child’s dental check-ups (dental check-ups for purposes other than treatment at least once a year) were assessed by questionnaire surveys for parents of the first graders from all 69 elementary schools in 2017 (n = 5260; response rate: 81.6%) and 2019 (n = 5130; response rate: 78.8%). Multilevel Poisson regression analysis, adjusted for children’s age in months, gender, mother’s educational attainment, mother’s employment status, having siblings, living with grandparents, and the density of dental clinics in the school district, was applied. Of the 7936 respondents included in the analysis, 82.7% of children received dental check-ups at least once a year. Individual-level social capital was positively associated with children’s dental check-up utilization (prevalence ratio, PR = 0.935 per one interquartile range, IQR; 95% confidence interval, CI: 0.877, 0.996). Community-level social capital was not significantly associated with children’s dental check-up utilization (PR = 0.934 per one IQR; 95% CI: 0.865, 1.008). Promoting individual-level social capital, but not community-level social capital, may improve dental check-ups among elementary school children in Japan.

Keywords: access to dental care; prevention; social capital; child oral health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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