Zhao Yang, Kim Beomsoo
School of Economics and Management, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, China.
Department of Economics, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Republic of Korea.
Healthcare (Basel). 2024 Sep 29;12(19):1949. doi: 10.3390/healthcare12191949.
Expanding dental care coverage for the elderly is globally recommended but not widely implemented due to its high costs and intangible benefits.
This study examined the impact of such an expansion in Korea using the imputation-based method proposed by Borusyak et al. We analyzed data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2007-2019) on dental service utilization and chewing ability among older adults.
The policy resulted in a 13.5% increase in partial denture use and a 60.5% increase in dental implants among those aged 65 and above. These changes corresponded with reductions in severe chewing difficulty by 23.3% and 13.0%, respectively. No significant changes were observed in full denture use. The price elasticity of demand for partial dentures and dental implants was estimated to be -0.19 and -0.86, respectively.
These findings underscore the critical role of affordability in enhancing the utilization of dental implants among the elderly and highlight the importance of appropriately expanding dental insurance coverage to improve oral health outcomes in this population.
扩大老年人的牙科护理覆盖范围在全球范围内受到推荐，但由于成本高昂且效益难以衡量，尚未得到广泛实施。
本研究采用Borusyak等人提出的基于插补的方法，考察了韩国扩大牙科护理覆盖范围的影响。我们分析了韩国国家健康与营养检查调查（2007 - 2019年）中关于老年人牙科服务利用情况和咀嚼能力的数据。
该政策使65岁及以上人群中局部义齿的使用增加了13.5%，种植牙的使用增加了60.5%。这些变化分别对应严重咀嚼困难减少了23.3%和13.0%。全口义齿的使用未观察到显著变化。局部义齿和种植牙的需求价格弹性估计分别为-0.19和-0.86。
这些发现强调了可承受性在提高老年人种植牙利用率方面的关键作用，并突出了适当扩大牙科保险覆盖范围以改善该人群口腔健康状况的重要性。
