Open AccessIdentifying Unaddressed Systemic Health Conditions at Dental Visits: Patients Who Visited Dental Practices but Not General Health Care Providers in 2008
Author(s) -
Shiela M. Strauss,
Michael C. Alfano,
Donna Shelley,
Terry Fulmer
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.2011.300420
Subject(s) - medicine , family medicine , dental care , health care , census , dental health , oral health , environmental health , population , economics , economic growth
We assessed the proportion and characteristics of patients who do not regularly visit general health care providers but do visit dentists and whose unaddressed systemic health conditions could therefore be identified by their dentist. Of the 26.0% of children and 24.1% of adults that did not access general outpatient health care in 2008, 34.7% and 23.1%, respectively, visited a dentist. They varied by census region, family income, and sociodemographics. Dental practices can serve as alternate sites of opportunity to identify health concerns among diverse groups of US patients.