Analysis of emergency dental revisits in Taiwan (1999-2012) from Taiwanese National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD).

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Inadequate diagnosis, treatment, and palliative care provided in the emergency department could let the patients revisit shortly after being seen. The aim of this study was to evaluate the emergency dental revisits by using Taiwanese National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The Dental dataset from NHIRD was used to analyze the demographic characteristics of emergency dental revisits in Taiwanese population from 1999 to 2012. In addition, the conditions of emergency dental revisits were also identified based on the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9).

RESULTS

Total 169,437 individuals had sought for emergency dental treatment from 1999 to 2012. In addition, 9624 individuals (5.68%) had repeated emergency dental visits within 1 year. The top 3 dental conditions were diseases of pulp and periapical tissues (ICD-9: 522), gingival and periodontal diseases (ICD-9: 523), and diseases of the oral soft tissues, excluding lesions specific for gingiva and tongue (ICD-9: 528). Males paid emergency dental revisits more than twice a year outnumber female counterparts (aOR = 1.252, 95% CI: 1.116-1.404). The higher odds ratio for emergency dental revisits over twice a year were found in 0-6 years, 35-49 years, 50-69 years, and ≧ 70 years subgroup as compared the reference of 20-34 years group. However, there were no significant differences for the stratification by year, day, region, and payroll bracket.

CONCLUSION

Taken together, this data demonstrated the current situation of emergency dental revisits in Taiwan. It would raise the important issue about how to reduce the unnecessary repeated emergency visits.