Using insurance claims and demographic data for surveillance of children's oral health.
OBJECTIVE
This paper examines the utility of using private insurance and Medicaid dental claims as well as demographic data for assessing the oral health of children aged 5-12 years in Genesee County, Michigan, communities.


METHODS
Dental insurance claims data from Delta Plan of Michigan and Michigan Medicaid, plus demographic data from the 1990 US Census (percent poverty) and from the 1995 National Center for Educational Statistics (percent free or reduced lunch eligibility), were compared to findings from two school-based oral health surveys. These surveys were the 1995 Genesee County Oral Health Survey and the 1998-2001 Mott Children's Health Center oral health screenings. Data were analyzed using zip codes, representing communities, as the comparison unit. Statistical comparisons using correlation coefficients were used to compare the findings from the six data sets.


RESULTS
Using the insurance claims and school-based data, some communities consistently demonstrated high levels of dental caries or treatment for the primary dentition. The demographic measures were significantly associated with many of the primary dentition survey measures. The demographic data were more useful in identifying communities with high levels of dental disease, particularly in the primary teeth, than the insurance claims data.


CONCLUSIONS
When screening is not practical, readily available demographic data may provide valuable oral health surveillance information for identification of high-risk communities, but these data do not identify high-risk individuals. In these analyses, demographic data were more useful than dental insurance claims data for oral health surveillance purposes.
Heller
Keith E
KE
333N Dental Science Building, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242-1010, USA. keith-heller@uiowa.edu
Eklund
Stephen A
SA
Burt
Brian A
BA
Briskie
Daniel M
DM
Lawrence
Leslie M
LM
D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003710:Demography; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology; D003793:Dental Restoration, Permanent / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007345:Insurance Claim Review / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007347:Insurance, Dental / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008484:Medicaid / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008824:Michigan / Q000453:epidemiology; D009909:Oral Health; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011203:Poverty / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012923:Social Class; D014081:Tooth Extraction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014094:Tooth, Deciduous / Q000473:pathology; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology