The use of dental services by adult Singaporeans.

The aims of this study were to assess the rate of dental service utilisation amongst the adult Singaporeans and to examine factors influencing their service utilisation. 1959 subjects aged between 18-75 years participated in a questionnaire survey. Respondents were asked whether they had seen a dentist in the past twelve months. It was found that 57% of the subjects had not seen a dentist in the past year. The reasons given for non-attendance were "felt it was unnecessary" (69.7%), "lack of time" (13.8%), "fear" (5.7%) and "cost" (2.4%). The low level of dental awareness appeared to be the major block to utilisation of dental services in this population.