Oral health status depending on the type of national health insurance: the 7th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES Ⅶ)

Objectives: This study was conducted to analyze dental caries and periodontal diseases in Korean adults depending on types of national health insurance, using data from the 7th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES Ⅶ).Methods: From 2016 to 2018, the final analysis included a total of 12,601 adults over 19 years of age, who had undergone dental inspections for dental caries and periodontitis, and whose national health insurance was verified.Results: Among all the subjects, the ratio of employees was highest (67.4%), followed by the self-employed (39.4%), and then medical care recipients (3.3%).The prevalence of dental caries and periodontitis was 93.0% and 30.5%, respectively, among all subjects.The former was highest for medical aid recipients (95.9%), followed by employees (93.1%), and was lowest for the self-employed (92.2%) (P<0.001).The latter was highest for medical aid recipients (40.7%), followed by the self-employed (35.9%), and was lowest for employees (27.7%) (P<0.001).The prevalence of dental caries in the self-employed group was significantly lower (0.52 times) than that of medical care recipients (95% CI: 0.28-0.94),while no significant difference was seen between the latter and employees.There were also no significant differences among them, depending on the types of national health insurance and periodontitis.Conclusions: It is necessary to develop oral health promotion programs that are not biased toward specific types of health insurance subscriptions, and to establish a business plan for oral prevention of subscribers of medical benefits.