Evaluating the effect of usual source of dental care on access to dental services: comparisons among diverse populations.
Data collected from the International Collaborative Study of Oral Health Outcomes USA (ICS-II) research locations were used to evaluate the relationship between having a usual source of dental care (USDC) and access to dental services. The robustness of the USDC effect after reducing simultaneity bias was tested in the population-based samples using sensitivity analysis. Logistic regression results provided evidence that USDC was the strongest and most consistent predictor of a dental visit in the past 12 months regardless of geographic location, dental care delivery system, or cultural diversity of the population. Even removing cases that had a USDC for less than 1 or 2 years, the effect remained. From a policy perspective, USDC remains critical to understanding and explaining dental are utilization patterns. The findings suggest the need for designing interventions to increase the availability of a regular provider among vulnerable populations.
Davidson
P L
PL
Department of Medicine and Health Services, UCLA 90095-1772, USA. pdavidso@chapman.edu
Cunningham
W E
WE
Nakazono
T T
TT
Andersen
R M
RM
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology; D015142:Baltimore; D003752:Dental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013781:Texas; D014481:United States; D016549:United States Indian Health Service