Equality in access to health services, including dental services, has been an important principle in the development of the Scandinavian welfare policy. This principle has been an important justification for totally or partially subsidized dental care for adults. A common assumption is that the use of public subsidies reduces inequalities in access to services. In this paper, we summarize the results from a research project in which we tested this assumption.

This study was carried out by using national and representative register data, using the introduction of 9 years of compulsory education in Norway to create variation in the length of education. The reform was introduced at the level of the municipalities over a period of 13 years, from 1960 to 1972. Prior to this the reform compulsory education was 7 years. The reform can be seen as a natural experiment in which people were randomly selected into an experimental group (9 years compulsory schooling) and a control group (7 years compulsory schooling), according to factors beyond the control of the test subjects and the researchers. The results show inequalities in access to subsidized dental care, in favour of those with a long education. The conclusion is that a welfare scheme based on subsidies is of most benefit to people with a longer education.