Patterns of dental service utilization following nontraumatic dental condition visits to the emergency department in Wisconsin Medicaid.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

To examine patterns of dental service utilization for adult Medicaid enrollees in Wisconsin following nontraumatic dental condition (NTDC) visits to the emergency department (ED).

Methods

This is a retrospective, observational study of claims for NTDC visits to the ED and dental service encounters from the Wisconsin Medicaid Evaluation and Decision Support database (2001-2009). We used competing risk models to predict probabilities of returning to the ED versus obtaining follow-up care from a dentist.

Results

We observed a 43 percent increase in the rate of NTDC visits to the ED, with most of this increase occurring from 2001 to 2005. Within 30 days of an NTDC visit to the ED, ∼29.6 percent of enrollees will first visit a dentist office, while ∼9.9 percent

SUBMITTER: Pajewski NM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4104605 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature