Mohamed Carlos N, Spears William
Tex Dent J. 2010 Dec;127(12):1283-91.
It has been well established that poor uninsured children lack access to dental care and have greater dental needs than their insured counterparts.
To assess the capacity of the Bexar County dental safety net to treat children. To assess the dental needs of Bexar County children ages 0-18 who are uninsured or are Medicaid or Texas Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) recipients.
Dental clinics that treat children ages 0-18 and act as the safety net were identified in order to assess their capacity to treat children. Clinic directors were contacted to request data on the number of child patient encounters per clinic for 2005. Data from the census, NHANES and other sources were used to establish an estimate of the dental needs of the uninsured and Medicaid/CHIP children. The dental needs of this population were calculated as maximum possible number of patient encounters per year.
The capacity of the current safety net to treat children is 33,537 patient encounters per year. The dental needs of the community are 227,124 patient encounters per year.
The results of the study suggest that the Bexar County is not prepared to treat the dental needs of the underserved children in San Antonio.
已有充分证据表明，未参保的贫困儿童难以获得牙科护理，且比参保儿童有更大的牙科护理需求。
评估贝克斯县牙科安全网治疗儿童的能力。评估贝克斯县0至18岁未参保或参加医疗补助或德克萨斯儿童健康保险计划（CHIP）的儿童的牙科护理需求。
确定治疗0至18岁儿童并作为安全网的牙科诊所，以评估其治疗儿童的能力。联系诊所主任，索要2005年每个诊所儿童患者就诊次数的数据。利用人口普查、美国国家健康与营养检查调查（NHANES）及其他来源的数据，对未参保儿童和医疗补助/CHIP儿童的牙科护理需求进行估算。该人群的牙科护理需求按每年最大可能的患者就诊次数计算。
当前安全网每年治疗儿童的能力为33,537次患者就诊。该社区的牙科护理需求为每年227,124次患者就诊。
研究结果表明，贝克斯县未做好满足圣安东尼奥市服务不足儿童牙科护理需求的准备。
