Wealthier people more likely to visit the dentist

Wealthier people are more likely to visit the dentist than people with money troubles. Last year 70 percent of people in the lowest income groups visited the dentist, compared to 90 percent of people in the highest income groups, according to a survey done by Statistics Netherlands. According to Statistics Netherlands, the correlation between income and dentist visits is different from the correlation between income and other forms of healthcare. A higher percentage of people with lower incomes visit the doctor, specialist or psychologist than those with higher incomes. The statistics office attributes this to the fact that the costs of dental care are not reimbursed for adults on the basic health insurance package, except for a number of specific instances. The basic insurance package does cover dentist visits for kids up to the age of 18, and in this age group there is no difference between income groups. 80 percent of women and 77 percent of men indicated that they visited the dentist at least once in 2015. The average person visited the dentist three times last year. 97 percent of kids between the ages of 12 and 16 paid at least one visit to the dentist. From the age of 20, that proportion drops to 80 percent. Only about half of elderly people over the age of 75 years visited the dentist last year.