Abstract:
There was a significant relationship between socioeconomic inequalities and oral health
among 15-years old adolescent school children in the Colombo District. Adolescents whose
parents had higher levels of education, perceived not to/rarely to be materially deprived,
lived in un crowded homes were more likely to have good oral hygiene status and gingival
condition than adolescents whose parents had lower level of education, perceived often to be
materially deprived and lived in crowded homes. In addition lower the numbers of siblings
better the oral hygiene status among adolescents. There was an inverse graded relationship
between perceived oral impacts assessed by OIDP scale scores and socioeconomic status
among adolescents assessed by an array of socioeconomic indicators except mother's
occupation Athus resembling the graded relationship of dental caries. As evident from the
adjusted odds ratios gender, family affluence scale and perceived meaningful dimensions of
home: "home provided a happy life" had the highest association with OIDP scores. Overall
higher the socioeconomic status of adolescents they were more likely to be unaware of oral
disease, perceived no oral symptoms, perceive their oral health status to be good and not to
perceive a need for dental care compared to adolescents from lower socioeconomic
backgrounds. The adolescents whose parents' level of education was higher, living in un
crowded homes with high purchasing powers (household income and expenditure) were
more likely to brush their teeth twice or more times a day than adolescents whose parents'
level of education was lower, living in crowded homes with low purchasing powers. Present
study provides the first empirical investigation into the relationship between socioeconomic
inequalities and oral health in Sri Lanka. The findings of the present study will not only
enhance the understanding of the relationship between socioeconomic inequalities and oral
health but could be used for advocacy
