Lacey S
Dental Institute, King's College London, SE1 9RT, UK.
Br Dent J. 2006 Sep 23;201(6):361-4. doi: 10.1038/sj.bdj.4814012.
The aim of this study was to determine if increasing cost to the patient of an NHS dental examination was associated with a change in the uptake of dental examinations by Scottish adults aged 18 years and over. The null hypothesis was that there was no significant difference (a = 0.05) in the number of NHS dental examinations taken up by Scottish adults with increase in cost to the patient.
Data for this retrospective study of cost and dental attendance between 1982-1998 was collected from the British Dental Association and Scottish Dental Practice Division. The number of examinations per month per dentist was calculated for the years 1982-1998 as an indicator of dental attendance.
The reported number of NHS dental examinations increased by 34% between 1982 and 1998 from 1,564,330 to 2,099,944. However the reported number of general dental practitioners working in the NHS in Scotland increased by 48% from 1362 to 2012. The number of examinations per month per dentist decreased from 95.71 in 1982 to 86.98 in 1998.
There was a significant (p = 0.001) reduction of 7.6% in the number of examinations per month per dentist after the introduction of charges. However within the charged data, while there is still a reduction, it was not significant. Other cost related factors may be influencing dental attendance and should be considered.
本研究旨在确定增加国民保健制度（NHS）牙科检查对患者的费用是否与18岁及以上苏格兰成年人牙科检查的接受率变化相关。零假设是，随着患者费用的增加，苏格兰成年人接受国民保健制度牙科检查的数量没有显著差异（α = 0.05）。
本回顾性研究收集了1982 - 1998年间英国牙科协会和苏格兰牙科执业部门的费用及牙科就诊数据。计算1982 - 1998年每位牙医每月的检查次数作为牙科就诊的指标。
1982年至1998年间，报告的国民保健制度牙科检查数量从1,564,330次增加到2,099,944次，增长了34%。然而，在苏格兰国民保健制度工作的全科牙医数量从1362人增加了48%，达到2012人。每位牙医每月的检查次数从1982年的95.71次降至1998年的86.98次。
引入收费后，每位牙医每月的检查次数显著减少（p = 0.001），降幅为7.6%。然而，在收费数据中，虽然仍有减少，但并不显著。其他与费用相关的因素可能正在影响牙科就诊情况，应予以考虑。
