Abstract
The objective of this study was to analyze the utilization of oral health care among Thai working age
population by using database of the Health and Welfare Surveys conducted by the National Statistical
Office in 2013. The surveys covered 27,960 households nationwide. Data were then weighted to represent
the total population. It was found that in overall, 98.7% of working age population was covered by any
health insurance scheme, of which national health insurance scheme (UC) shared 64.8 %. Among those
insured, only 9.3% reported having oral health care during the past year. Regarding area and income, it
was found that Civil Servants’ Medical Benefit Scheme (CSMBS) with high income clients from Bangkok
Metropolitan have the highest accessibility to oral health care of 22.5% compared to those national health
insurance scheme of 7.0-8.5% or 2.7-2.9 times higher. Furthermore, 45% of cases reported abstain to use of
their health insurance for oral health care and even 51.7% for UC scheme. Among UC scheme holders,
84.4% preferred seeking private services. The result reflects the challenge in access to oral health care. It is
necessary to develop measures to increase access to public services with effective and appropriate mechanisms.
