Impact of Making Dental Care Affordable on Quality of Life in Adults Aged 45 Years and Older

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine the associations between self-reported ability to afford dental care and quality of life in adults aged 45 years and older. Method: We used publicly available cross-sectional data from the 2008 National Health Interview Survey and its oral health supplement for 11,760 adults aged 45+ years. The increased probabilities of reporting dental problems attributable to an inability to afford dental care were estimated from multivariate models and combined with respective dental problem disability weights from the Global Burden of Disease to measure loss in quality of life. Results: Prevalence of reported inability to afford dental care, severe tooth loss, severe periodontitis, and untreated caries were 11.9%, 8.5%, 14.3%, and 37.9%, respectively. Inability to afford dental care was associated with an increase of 0.017 disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) per person per year under base case and 0.020 DALYs under generous assumptions. Conclusion: Making dental care affordable could improve adult’s (age 45 and above) quality of life at a reasonable cost.