Evaluating the Usage of Insurance Package for Basic Dental Services in Mashhad

In Iran, for people who have health insurance, an insurance package for basic dental services is also available. Nevertheless, unmet dental needs have been reported in the country. The aim of this study was to determine the extent of use of insurance package for basic dental services among attenders of health centers of Mashhad in 2011. In this cross-sectional study with cluster sampling, a total of 1200 attenders to health centers of Mashhad were interviewed and variables such as age, level of education, the name of health insurance, and insured dental services that was received in the year prior to study were evaluated using SPSS software with chi-square and Mann-Whitney statistical tests. Of 1200 people studied, 1094 subjects (91%) had health insurance coverage. 258 subjects (23.5%) had used basic dental insurance services in the past year. Women received significantly more services than men (P = 0.03). Type of services received were different depending on level of education (P = 0.001), as in people with less education or illiterate, tooth extraction and dental prostheses were more common. Subjects with 51 ​​years of age and older had less commonly used insurance package for basic dental services compared to other age-groups (P = 0.04). The frequency of dental services received by individuals covered by social security organization insurance, was higher than other insurance agencies (P < 0.001). Despite the appropriate insurance coverage, the use of insurance package for basic dental services was low. Hence, it is necessary to be examined why usage of insurance package for basic dental services is not welcomed by Iranian people.