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Public dental service utilization among adults in South Australia
Author(s) -
Luzzi L,
Spencer AJ
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
australian dental journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.701
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1834-7819
pISSN - 0045-0421
DOI - 10.1111/j.1834-7819.2009.01109.x
Subject(s) - service (business) , public service , medicine , dentistry , environmental health , business , political science , public relations , marketing
Background: Longitudinal patterns of public dental service use may reflect access issues to public dental care services. Therefore, patterns of dental service use among South Australian adult public dental patients over a 3½‐year period were examined. Methods: Public dental patients (n = 898) initially receiving a course of emergency dental care (EDC) or general dental care (GDC) at baseline were followed for up to 3½ years. Patient clinical records were accessed electronically to obtain information on dental visits and treatment received at those visits. Results: Some 70.7 per cent of EDC and 51.3 per cent of GDC patients returned for dental treatment post‐baseline. EDC patients returned within a significantly shorter time period post‐baseline, received significantly more courses of care and were visiting more frequently than GDC patients. A greater proportion of EDC patients received oral surgery, restorative, endodontic and prosthodontic services, but fewer received periodontic services. EDC patients received significantly more oral surgery and fewer preventive services per follow‐up year, on average, than GDC patients. Large proportions of EDC (52.4 per cent) and GDC (63.8 per cent) patients who returned sought emergency care post‐baseline. Conclusions: Patients appeared to be cycling through emergency dental care because of lack of access to general care services, highlighting access problems to public dental care.