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Regular Dental Care Utilization: The Case of Immigrants in Ontario, Canada

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Abstract

Considering the critical role of oral health on people’s well-being, access to regular dental care to improve oral health may be a useful medium for improving immigrant integration and settlement in Canada. Using the 2013–14 Canadian Community Health Survey, this study contributes to the literature and policy by examining if there are disparities in regular utilization of dental care among recent immigrants, established immigrants, and the native-born in Ontario, Canada. Adopting Andersen’s behavioural model of health services use as a conceptual framework, we introduce three sets of variables in our statistical analysis including predisposing, need, and enabling factors. At the bivariate level, recent (OR = 0.42, p < 0.001) and established immigrants (OR = 0.81, p < 0.001) are less likely to use dental care at least once a year than their native-born counterparts. Once accounting for enabling characteristics, however, we observe that the direction of the association becomes positive for established immigrants (OR = 1.15, p < 0.05). The difference between recent immigrants and the native-born is partially attenuated when we control for enabling characteristics but remains statistically significant (OR = 0.73, p < 0.05). Based on these findings, we provide several implications for policymakers and future research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Nipissing University, North Bay, ON, Canada

    Yujiro Sano

  2. Department of Health and Society, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Roger Antabe

  3. Graduate Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Roger Antabe

Authors
  1. Yujiro Sano
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  2. Roger Antabe
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Correspondence to Yujiro Sano.

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Statistics Canada granted ethical approval and participants provided informed consent.

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Sano, Y., Antabe, R. Regular Dental Care Utilization: The Case of Immigrants in Ontario, Canada. J Immigrant Minority Health 24, 162–169 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-021-01265-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-021-01265-w

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