Social and Delivery Factors in the Cost of Dental Care

This study examines differences in costs of dental care in a public program, in relation to 1) practice type, 2) patient characteristics, and 3) services provided. From 1971-75 the program provided dental care to some 5,000 indigent children per year in a 13 county region in Southeastern Appalachia. Care was delivered in private practices, and in public fixed and mobile clinics. Previous studies revealed significantly higher costs in the private practices, but did not explain the cause. In this analysis it is assumed that 1) need for care is associated with age, fluoridation status, race and years in the program; and 2) explicit costs of producing dental services are related to numbers and types of services, chair-time and quality of care. The overall hypothesis was that cost differences would be associated with differences in the distribution of children and services among the different practice modes. Eight specific hypotheses were specified. Four concerned the children and four the services. None of the hypotheses was supported. There were no differences among the practice modes by race, completed cases and time in program. Differences for the other variables were significant but in the unanticipated direction. Conclusions are that higher costs in the private practices were attributable neither to the characteristics of the children they served nor to the type of care they provided

Appalachia · Dental care · Environmental health · Family medicine · Private practice · Quality (philosophy) · Race (biology) · Sociology · Demography · Dental Education, Practice, Research · Dental Health and Care Utilization · Healthcare Policy and Management · Medicine · Gerontology

• Costs of Publicly Financed Dental Care for Children in Three Different Types of Practice Settings

  Open Access•Neville Doherty, Sandra L Vivian•Journal of Public Health Dentistry•1976

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