Association between local spatial accessibility of dental care services and dental care quality.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The aim of our study was to evaluate the allocation of dental resources and explore access to dental care in Taiwan. In addition, we tried to understand the spatiotemporal characteristics of dental care quality and analyze the relationship between dental care quality and areas with deficiencies in dental resources.

Methods

The study used a two-step floating catchment area to calculate the dental resources accessibility and explore the spatiotemporal distributions of dental care quality. The association between dental care quality and spatial accessibility was analyzed using a spatial error model.

Results

Most areas with deficient dental resources and lower dental care quality were remote townships, agricultural towns, or aging towns with spatial clustering.

SUBMITTER: Chung PC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8600821 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature