Table 2.

The main determinants of inequality to oral and dental health access among developing countries

Main themes	Sub-themes	Final codes	References
Micro Individual level	Personal characteristics	Age	[4, 17–19]
		Sex	[20]
		Skin colour	[20, 21]
		Higher self-esteem	[22]
		Gender/child gender	[23]
	Health status	Periodontal status	[24]
		Severity of dental caries	[25]
		Self-rated oral health	[22, 26, 27]
		Systemic disease history	[17]
		Decayed teeth	[28]
		Psychological health status	[29–31]
	Health needs	Dental treatment needs	[28, 32]
		Perceived dental treatment needs	[4, 20, 33, 34]
		Perceived oral health care need	[35]
		Evaluated need characteristics (oral clinical status)	[23]
	Health behaviours	Oral health beliefs	[22]
		Regular brushing	[22, 27]
		Oral hygiene practice	[4]
		Children’s dental behaviours	[36]
		Oral health education for parents and children	[36]
		Oral health knowledge	[36]
Macro level	Social determinants	Rural–urban disparity	[25]
		Unemployment	[25, 37, 38]
		Employment status	[39]
		Need and predisposing factors	[40]
		Education level (mother, household’s head)/ parents’ schooling	[26, 41] [17–19, 32, 34, 37, 42–46]
		Work conditions of the mother	[47]
		Social class/social position of the family head	[8, 47–49]
		Socioeconomic condition	[23, 41, 46, 50, 51]
		Living in rural areas	[38]
		Residential location	[34]
		Urban–rural disparity	[52]
		Educational inequalities	[53, 54]
		Geographical and financial access	[55]
	Economic-determinants	Being poor/poverty	[20, 25, 28]
		prepayment for health services	[55, 56]
		Income	[19, 22, 32, 41, 42, 54–60]
		Financial autonomy	[47, 4]
	Cultural determinants	Cultural values	[47]
		Individual and contextual determinants	[61]
	Environmental determinants	Supporting environment	[49]
		Geographic barriers to dental care	[62]
Mezzo organizational level	Provider related factors	Ratio of dentists to inhabitants	[63]
		Institutions, staff, and providers	[47]
		Absence of a national surveillance system for oral health	[64]
		The fragmentation of actors and institutions	[64]
		Absence of leaders uniting various actors in oral public health	[64]
		Regionally equitable distribution of dentists	[62]
		Caregivers’ oral health knowledge	[17]
		Enhanced provision of oral health care services	[65]
	Policies and practices	Multi-sectoral approach	[65]
		Multi-sectoral collaboration	[65]
		Dental care market competition	[66]
		Institutions, staff, and providers	[47]
		Prioritization of population groups	[47]
		Coverage of the family health strategy	[67]
	Insurance	Supplementary insurance	[67]
		Basic Care Package indicators	[63]
		Type of health insurance	[46, 62, 68]
		Dental health insurance	[27, 54, 60, 69]