Dn Teusner

Dental visiting by insurance and oral health impact

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to explore whether oral health has an influence on the association between dental insurance and dental visiting. METHODS A random sample of adults aged 30-61 years living in Australia was drawn from the Australian Electoral Roll. Data were collected by mailed survey in 2009-2010, including age, gender, household income, dental insurance status, dental visiting and oral health impact. RESULTS Responses were collected from n = 1096 persons (response rate = 39.1%). Dental insurance was positively associated with visiting a dentist in the last 12 months (prevalence ratio (PR) = 1.48; 95% CI: 1.31-1.67), while oral health impact was not associated with recent visiting PR = 1.01; 95% CI: 0.89-1.14). Visiting for the purpose of pain relief was less prevalent among insured participants (PR = 0.60; 95% CI: 0.44-0.81), but more prevalent among those with poor oral health (PR = 2.85; 95% CI: 2.15-3.76). It was found that oral health impact did not alter the relationship between dental insurance and visiting. CONCLUSIONS Oral health impacts were not associated with recent dental visits, but were associated with visits for pain relief. Dental insurance was associated with a greater likelihood of recent visits and lower levels of relief of pain visits.

Self-rated dental health and dental insurance: modification by household income.

BackgroundPrevious studies have reported that socioeconomically disadvantaged Australians have poorer self-rated dental health (SRDH), are less likely to be insured for dental services and are less likely to have regular dental visits than their more advantaged counterparts. However, less is known about the associations between dental insurance and SRDH. The aim of this study was to examine the associations between SRDH and dental insurance status and to test if the relationship was modified by household income.MethodsA random sample of 3,000 adults aged 30–61 years was drawn from the Australian Electoral Roll and mailed a self-complete questionnaire. Analysis included dentate participants. Bivariate associations were assessed between SRDH and insurance stratified by household income group. A multiple variable model adjusting for covariates estimated prevalence ratios (PR) of having good to excellent SRDH and included an interaction term for insurance and household income group.ResultsThe response rate was 39.1% (n = 1,093). More than half (53.9%) of the participants were insured and 72.5% had good to excellent SRDH. SRDH was associated with age group, brushing frequency, insurance status and income group. Amongst participants in the

Longitudinal changes in dental services provided by Australian dentists

40,000– < 

Associations between level of private dental insurance cover and favourable dental visiting by household income.

80,000 income group, the insured had a higher proportion reporting good to excellent SRDH (80.8%) than the uninsured (66.5%); however, there was little difference in SRDH by insurance status for those in the

Practice activity trends among oral and maxillofacial surgeons in Australia.

120,000+ income group. After adjusting for covariates, there was a significant interaction (p < 0.05) between having insurance and income; there was an association between insurance and SRDH for adults in the

Dental insurance, service use and health outcomes in Australia: a systematic review

40,000– < 

Dental responsibility loadings and the relative value of dental services

80,000 income group, but not for adults in higher income groups.ConclusionsFor lower socio-economic groups being insured was associated with better SRDH, but there was no association for those in the highest income group. Insurance coverage may have the potential to improve dental health for low income groups.

Practice characteristics and service provision rates of dental hygienists in Australia

OBJECTIVE To estimate the longitudinal change in number of patients per year (PPY) per dentist by age and sex of dentists in Australia. METHOD Dentists were selected randomly from Australian dental registers, the baseline collection was in 1983 and repeated approximately every 5 years until 2009. Dentists practice activity was collected by mailed questionnaire. Number of PPY was calculated from work hours and number of patients per week per dentist. Mixed-effects regression was applied to estimate both individual random effects and population averaged fixed effects for the number of PPY provided by age, time, and sex. RESULTS A total of 1,449 dentists completed 2,822 questionnaires from six waves of data collection (1983 to 2010). The average PPY decreased over the time of the study. The rate of change in PPY accelerated during younger ages and reached a peak when they moved into 50 years old (B = 86.04, P < 0.0001), and then decelerated (B = -0.90, P = 0.0002) across time. The mean number of PPY was higher in male dentists than female dentists in the same 10-year age group. The pattern of PPY change with aging was an inverted U-shape for male dentists. In contrast, there was a U-shape for female dentists. CONCLUSIONS The longitudinal change in PPY with aging was an inverted U-shape, which accelerated during younger age, and decelerated after reaching a peak at 50 years old. Males had higher PPY than female dentists at the same age. The pattern of PPY was different between male and female dentists.

Variations in Australian dental therapy practice by practitioner and workplace characteristics

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to assess associations between level of dental insurance cover and dental visiting across socioeconomic groups in an Australian population. METHODS Data were sourced from the 2008 National Dental Telephone Interview Survey and a related mailed survey. Analysis included dentate adults (≥18 years) (n = 1984) with known dental insurance status (categorized as no cover, lower and higher level cover). Adjusted prevalence ratios (PR) of a favourable visiting pattern (FVP) were estimated stratified by household income group. RESULTS Mailed survey response was 68%. Overall 38.3% had a FVP. Compared to uninsured adults, adjusted PR of FVP were significantly higher for insured adults with lower or higher level cover. However, among insured adults, there was no significant difference in FVP by level of cover. Among adults in the lowest income group, both lower (PR = 2.32, 95% CIs: 1.74, 3.08) and higher cover groups (PR = 2.34, 95% CIs: 1.60, 3.40) had higher prevalence of FVP than uninsured adults. For the highest income group there was no significant difference in FVP between the uninsured and insured groups. CONCLUSIONS While the level of cover was not associated with dental visiting, findings indicated that insurance may improve access and orientation of dental care for lower socioeconomic adults but have less influence on access patterns of higher socioeconomic adults.

Hours worked and patient visits provided by dentists in Australia

BackgroundThe aim of this study was to describe practice activity trends among oral and maxillofacial surgeons in Australia over time.MethodsAll registered oral and maxillofacial surgeons in Australia were surveyed in 1990 and 2000 using mailed self-complete questionnaires.ResultsData were available from 79 surgeons from 1990 (response rate = 73.8%) and 116 surgeons from 2000 (response rate = 65.1%). The rate of provision of services per visit changed over time with increased rates observed overall (from 1.43 ± 0.05 services per visit in 1990 to 1.66 ± 0.06 services per visit in 2000), reflecting increases in pathology and reconstructive surgery. No change over time was observed in the provision of services per year (4,521 ± 286 services per year in 1990 and 4,503 ± 367 services per year in 2000). Time devoted to work showed no significant change over time (1,682 ± 75 hours per year in 1990 and 1,681 ± 94 hours per year in 2000), while the number of visits per week declined (70 ± 4 visits per week in 1990 to 58 ± 4 visits per week in 2000).ConclusionsThe apparent stability in the volume of services provided per year reflected a counterbalancing of increased services provided per visit and a decrease in the number of visits supplied.