Almost a quarter of adults sometimes avoid the dentist because of costs

Almost a quarter of adults sometimes avoid the dentist because of costs

Almost a quarter of adults in the Netherlands have refrained from visiting the dentist due to the costs. People with less money say they do this more often. They also feel they have less chance of good care.

People in households with less wealth more often indicate that they avoid dentist visits because of the costs, reports statistics office CBS. This applies to one in three people (33 percent) in that group, compared to 15 percent in the highest wealth group.

The CBS investigated, among other things, the perceived inequality of opportunity in healthcare in 2024. The population is divided into four equally sized groups, from low to high wealth. This is based on the disposable income and assets of the household.

Adults from the group with the lowest financial wealth are more than four times as likely to indicate “that they feel they have less chance of receiving good care than those in households with the highest wealth,” the CBS writes.

Compared to the dentist, the general practitioner is avoided less often. One in ten people say they do not go to the general practitioner because of the costs, but here too, people with less wealth do this more often: 15 percent of the group with the lowest wealth, compared to 7 percent of the group with the highest wealth.

The research into inequality of opportunity in healthcare is part of the annual Experiences Survey of the CBS. In addition to healthcare, the research this time also concerns inequality of opportunity in the labor market, in housing and in education. In the field of education, one in five adults say that they think they have had less opportunity in education due to the financial situation of their parents.

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