Research project The project investigates the Swedish oral care system’s opportunities of policy instruments and reforms, and the threats of system disruptions and inequity drivers, using an intersectional lens.
The Swedish oral care system is facing great challenges when it comes to fulfilling its explicit goal stated in law - oral care provision on equal terms for all. Groundwork for future oral care reforms therefore aims for improving equity in oral care, but is hampered by a lack of evidence on this severely understudied topic. The overall purpose of this project is to generate critical knowledge that supports a path towards equity in oral care, and in the end equitable oral health, in Sweden
Inequities in oral health in Sweden seems to be widespread, rising and more complex than previously understood. The main policy instrument to promote equity in oral care, universal and partial oral care subsidies, seems to have done little to address this situation, and the Swedish oral care system has in recent years undergone a multifaceted crisis. This raises questions whether the oral care system works as set out in law and policy, i.e., supporting oral health equity by providing oral care on equal terms for all. This question has drawn the attention of multiple sectors of Swedish society and has been the topic of a governmental commission but remains a surprisingly understudied topic in research.
This project aims to inform the ongoing work on future oral care reforms with novel and crucial evidence and concrete recommendations for tailoring oral health policy that can promote inclusive equity in oral care. The specific aims of this project are:
The project will focus on preventive oral care utilization, and approach inclusive equity through a comprehensive intersectionality-based framework. We use national register and survey data, quasi-experimental design, and state-of-the-art analytical methods to study the role of subsidies (Aim 1) and systemic disruptions and determinants (Aim 2) for inequities in oral care utilization. The findings will feed into critical policy analysis, based on public documents and stakeholder interviews, and result in recommendations for forthcoming oral health policy (Aim 3).
