103 -6 (92) 2026 - Gabriele Emiliano Verità, Cristina Verità, Khuseyn Nazarzoda, Saiyohat Olimova - ACCESS TO DENTAL CARE FOR VULNERABLE POPULATIONS: A COMPARATIVE DESCRIPTIVE STUDY USING SECONDARY DATA FROM GERMANY AND TAJIKISTAN

ACCESS TO DENTAL CARE FOR VULNERABLE POPULATIONS: A COMPARATIVE DESCRIPTIVE STUDY USING SECONDARY DATA FROM GERMANY AND TAJIKISTAN

Gabriele Emiliano Verità - MVZ Kinderzahnarztpraxis Konstanz MediLink GmbH, Konstanz, Germany

Cristina Verità - MVZ Kinderzahnarztpraxis Konstanz MediLink GmbH, Konstanz, Germany

Khuseyn Nazarzoda - Tajik State Medical University named after Abuali ibn Sino

Saiyohat Olimova - Tajik State Medical University named after Abuali ibn Sino

Резюме

Background: Oral diseases affect approximately 3.5 billion people worldwide, yet access to dental care remains profoundly inequitable for vulnerable populations. Systematic comparative data on dental care access across contrasting health-system contexts are scarce. This study provides a structured comparison between Germany, a high-income country with comprehensive statutory dental coverage, and Tajikistan, a low-income post-Soviet transitional state with limited public dental infrastructure. Objectives: To describe and compare access to dental care for persons living in poverty, asylum seekers and refugees, orphaned or institutionalised children, and persons with disabilities in Germany and Tajikistan, using publicly available secondary data and official health-system documentation. Methods: Comparative descriptive ecological study based on retrospective analysis of aggregated data from international repositories (Global Burden of Disease 2021, WHO Global Health Observatory, World Bank) and national statistical sources. Two investigators independently extracted and harmonised data using a standardised protocol. Each indicator pair was assigned a comparability rating (high, moderate, limited, or not comparable). Analyses were primarily descriptive, including absolute differences, relative ratios, and narrative synthesis. Reporting followed STROBE, RECORD, and STROBE-Equity guidelines. Results: Germany and Tajikistan exhibit marked structural disparities across the assessed outcome domains. Using the harmonised UNECE SDG 3.c.1 definition, Germany’s dentist density (approximately 8.5 per 10,000 population) exceeded Tajikistan’s (approximately 1.6 per 10,000) by a roughly fivefold ratio. Per capita dental expenditure was USD 372 in Germany versus USD 3.3 in Tajikistan (ratio approximately 113:1). Out-of-pocket health expenditure constituted 64.0% of current health spending in Tajikistan compared to 12.4% in Germany. Based on WHO Oral Health Country Profiles (GBD 2019), the prevalence of untreated caries of deciduous teeth was substantially higher in Tajikistan (48.3%) than Germany (29.1%), while untreated caries of permanent teeth was moderately higher in Tajikistan (35.0% vs 31.7%). Conversely, severe periodontitis (27.4% vs 10.8%) and edentulism (11.7% vs 8.6%) were higher in Germany, consistent with its older population structure. Subgroup-disaggregated oral health data for the four vulnerable populations of interest were largely unavailable in Tajikistan and only partially available in Germany. The systematic documentation of these data gaps constitutes a principal finding of this study. Conclusions: Profound structural disparities in dental care capacity, financing, and data infrastructure exist between Germany and Tajikistan. The near-complete absence of subgroup-disaggregated oral health data for vulnerable populations in Tajikistan—and significant gaps even in Germany—represents a critical barrier to evidence-based equity-oriented policy. Future bilateral academic collaboration and targeted primary data collection are urgently needed.

Keywords: dental health services; health equity; vulnerable populations; comparative study; secondary data analysis; ecological study; Germany; Tajikistan; oral health; access to care

First page

621

Last page

636

For citation:Gabriele Emiliano Verità, Cristina Verità, Khuseyn Nazarzoda, Saiyohat Olimova - ACCESS TO DENTAL CARE FOR VULNERABLE POPULATIONS: A COMPARATIVE DESCRIPTIVE STUDY USING SECONDARY DATA FROM GERMANY AND TAJIKISTAN//New Day in Medicine 6(92)2026 621-636 https://newdayworldmedicine.com/en/new_day_medicine/6-92-2026

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