Department of Health Promotion and Policy, University of Maryland Dental School, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.
J Public Health Dent. 2011 Winter;71(1):13-22. doi: 10.1111/j.1752-7325.2010.00195.x.
Our understanding of the use of emergency departments (EDs) and physician offices for the management of dental problems is limited. We undertook this study to examine whether there are differences in their use by low-income White and minority adults as compared with higher-income adults.
Participantsincluded White, Black, and Hispanic adults who had experi enced a dental problem during the previous 12 months and who visited a physician, ED, or dentist for treatment. We selected a stratified random sample of 27,002 Maryland households with listed telephones to screen for eligibility. We identified 1,387 households with an eligible adult, selected 423 for interviews, and completed interviews with 401 (94.8%).
To restore correct proportionality to the sample, and to adjust for nonresponse and the distribution of demographic characteristics, weights were created for use in the analyses. Only 7.1 percent of respondents contacted an ED, while 14.3 percent contacted a physician and 90.2 percent a dentist. The vast majority of respondents who contacted an ED (96.0%) or a physician (92.2%) also contacted a dentist. Lower-income respondents were more likely to seek care from an ED, while higher-income respondents were more likely to seek care from a dentist. Over whelmingly, respondents visiting EDs (89.4%) and physicians (51.7%) were instructed to see a dentist or given prescriptions/samples. Treatment provided by EDs, physicians, and dentists was not associated with the respondent's income or race/ethnicity.
Respondents visiting EDs and physicians typically did not receive definitive care and subsequently visited a dentist for treatment.
我们对利用急诊部（ED）和医生办公室来处理牙科问题的情况了解有限。因此，我们开展了此项研究，旨在调查低收入的白人和少数族裔成年人与高收入成年人相比，他们在利用这些资源处理牙科问题方面是否存在差异。
参与者包括在过去 12 个月中经历过牙科问题、并因该问题而看过医生、去过 ED 或看牙医的白种人、黑种人和西班牙裔成年人。我们从列出电话的马里兰州 27002 户家庭中抽取了分层随机样本，以筛选符合条件的家庭。我们共识别出 1387 户有符合条件的成年人的家庭，从中选取 423 户进行访谈，并最终完成了 401 户（94.8%）的访谈。
为了恢复样本的正确比例，并调整无应答和人口统计学特征的分布，我们为分析创建了权重。只有 7.1%的受访者联系了 ED，而 14.3%的受访者联系了医生，90.2%的受访者联系了牙医。绝大多数联系 ED（96.0%）或医生（92.2%）的受访者也联系了牙医。收入较低的受访者更倾向于去 ED 寻求治疗，而收入较高的受访者更倾向于去看牙医。绝大多数去 ED（89.4%）和医生（51.7%）就诊的受访者都被指示去看牙医或拿到了处方/样本。ED、医生和牙医提供的治疗与受访者的收入或种族/民族无关。
去 ED 和医生就诊的受访者通常没有得到明确的治疗，随后会去看牙医接受治疗。
