Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the associations between a community-level factor and dental scaling experience and to confirm the associations with individual factors in Korea. Methods: In total, 203,088 individuals from 243 communities participated in the 2013 Community Health Survey. A dichotomized response of experiences with dental scaling was used as the outcome and the regional deprivation index was used as the explanatory community-level factor. In addition, various individual factors were included as covariates. In the bivariate analysis, the chi-square test was used. Multilevel multivariate logistic regression was also performed where in four models were applied. The bivariate analysis showed that all factors at the individual and community level showed significant associations with an individual’s experience with dental scaling. Results: The factors that were significantly associated with the dental scaling experience were being male, being 40-49 years old, having a higher income level, being economically active, having a higher education level, being a non-smoker, being a drinker, having good periodontal health, using oral hygiene products, tooth-brushing after lunch, and residing in less deprived regions (P<0.01). As with the results of multilevel logistic regression analysis, the regional deprivation index was significantly associated with scaling experience after adjusting for individual factors with an adjusted odds ratio of 0.98 (95% CI: 0.97-0.99), demonstrating an association between a lack of experience with scaling and lower socio-economic status in the community. Conclusions: This study indicated that the scaling experience was affected not only by individual fac-tors, but also by factors at the community level. Future studies are required to examine the detailed relationships between oral health and other community factors such as medical and social capital.

Keywords: Community Level, Contextual Effect, Dental Scaling