Visitors’ experiences of public and private dental care in Sweden in 1992–2012

Abstract Aim The aim was to compare adult patients’ experiences of public and private dental care in Sweden over time from the ages of 50 and 70 years, between 1992 and 2012. Materials and methods Data on visiting patterns, oral health, fees and satisfaction were obtained from a questionnaire study every 5 years in 1992–2012 and analysed by using the Chi-square test and logistic regression. In the present study, the answers given by 6083 respondents in 1992 and 5220 in 2012 were included. Results Of the 50-year olds, 73.5% had visited the private sector and 26.5% the public sector. In 1992, patients in the public dental service (PDS) had visited their dentists less frequently and experienced having a slightly poorer dental status compared with private patients. After 20 years (2012), the distribution of patients between the two sectors was almost the same (71.4% and 28.8%) and the differences in visiting pattern and dental health persisted. During the study period, 21.6% of the patients changed treatment sector. A small proportion of patients had high treatment costs. A larger proportion of the private sector visitors than the PDS visitors were consistently satisfied with the dental care they had received. Conclusions As a whole, most adult patients in Sweden were satisfied with their dental care at both public and private clinics.