Department of Dental Public Health, University of Maryland School of Dentistry, Baltimore, MD, USA.
J Public Health Dent. 2019 Mar;79(2):160-174. doi: 10.1111/jphd.12309. Epub 2019 Feb 4.
We estimated the use of any dental services and the use of specific types of dental services conditional on any dental use for adults 50 and over in the United States to analyze: a) disparities in the use of specialized dental services and b) whether older adults receiving routine dental care use fewer expensive specialized dental services.
We relied on data tabulations and estimated logistic regressions from the 2014 Medical Expenditure Panel Study to analyze the influence of various covariates such as age, race/ethnicity, education, dental insurance, income, and health status on the likelihood of a) using any dental care and b) using routine dental care (prophylaxis, examinations, bitewings, etc.) and specialized services for restorative, periodontal, oral surgery, or prosthetic dental care conditional on using any dental care.
We found a) lower use of specialized services among higher income, more educated, healthier, nonminority older adults and b) association between lower use of routine dental care and higher use of expensive restorative, oral surgery, and prosthetic dental services.
Our study identifies diversity in the use of specialized dental services among an older adult population and suggests that more widespread use of routine dental services could potentially improve oral health and limit the need for expensive specialized dental care for this population.
我们估计了美国 50 岁及以上成年人任何牙科服务的使用情况，并根据任何牙科使用情况，对特定类型的牙科服务的使用情况进行了分析：a）专门牙科服务使用方面的差异，以及 b）接受常规牙科护理的老年人是否使用较少昂贵的专门牙科服务。
我们依赖于 2014 年医疗支出面板研究的数据分类和估计逻辑回归，分析了各种协变量（如年龄、种族/民族、教育、牙科保险、收入和健康状况）对以下方面的影响：a）使用任何牙科护理的可能性，以及 b）在使用任何牙科护理的情况下，使用常规牙科护理（预防、检查、咬翼等）和专门用于修复、牙周、口腔手术或义齿的服务的可能性。
我们发现 a）高收入、受过良好教育、更健康、非少数民族的老年人群体中专门服务的使用较低，b）常规牙科护理使用较少与昂贵的修复、口腔手术和义齿服务使用较多之间存在关联。
我们的研究确定了老年人群体中专门牙科服务使用的多样性，并表明更广泛地使用常规牙科服务可能会改善口腔健康，并限制该人群对昂贵专门牙科护理的需求。
