Use of free preventive dental programme for children: 10 years of Lov'U'r Teeth, France.

Abstract

Aim: Lov'U'r Teeth is a French oral health prevention programme targeting children. The programme offers an appointment with a dentist for oral examination and individual oral health advice. It covers any necessary primary dental care resulting from that examination. Despite being free, it was under-utilised at its previous evaluation 10 years ago. The study aims to identify the determinants of participation and their evolution since 2009.

Methods: We worked on the General Beneficiary Sample, a medico-administrative database representative of the French population, including health-care consumption data. We selected individuals aged 6 to 15. We performed descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regressions to analyse and compare the determinants of participation between 2009 and 2019. The final sample included 26 288 children.

Results: Lov'U'r Teeth participation rate increased by 4.2 percentage points from 2009 to 2019. Participation was highest at age 6 and declined as age increased. Children from households facing financial difficulties have a 72% lower probability of participating than other children. Over the study period, increasing poverty rates were consistently associated with lower participation. Children living in the areas with the highest poverty rates were up to 46% less likely to participate than those in areas with the lowest poverty rates.

Conclusion: Participation in Lov'U'r Teeth has improved over the past 10 years, but the programme continues to reproduce social inequalities, as the determinants of using free preventive dental care mirror those of non-preventive care. Lov'U'r Teeth should enhance communication strategies to reach those in need and clarify the programme's benefits.