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. 2020 Oct 29:17:E136.
doi: 10.5888/pcd17.200003.

Does Preventive Care Reduce Severe Pediatric Dental Caries?

Helen H Lee  1 , Luis Faundez  2 , Kamyar Nasseh  3 , Anthony T LoSasso  4
Affiliations

Does Preventive Care Reduce Severe Pediatric Dental Caries?

Helen H Lee et al. Prev Chronic Dis. .

Abstract

Introduction: Tertiary oral health services (caries-related surgery, sedation, and emergency department visits) represent high-cost and ineffective ways to improve a child's oral health. We measured the impact of increased Texas Medicaid reimbursements for preventive dental care on use of tertiary oral health services.

Methods: We used difference-in-differences models to compare the effect of a policy change among children (≤9 y) enrolled in Medicaid in Texas and Florida. Linear regression models estimated 4 outcomes: preventive care dental visit, dental sedation, emergency department use, and surgical event.

Results: Increased preventive care visits led to increased sedation visits (1.7 percentage points, P < .001) and decreased emergency department visits (0.3 percentage points, P < .001) for children aged 9 years or younger. We saw no significant change in dental surgical rates associated with increased preventive dental care reimbursements.

Conclusion: Increased access to preventive dentistry was not associated with improved long-term oral health of Medicaid-enrolled children. Policies that aim to improve the oral health of children may increase the effectiveness of preventive dentistry by also targeting other social determinants of oral health.

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