The relationship between NHS patient charges and the uptake of dental examinations by Scottish adults 1982-1998.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to determine if increasing cost to the patient of an NHS dental examination was associated with a change in the uptake of dental examinations by Scottish adults aged 18 years and over. The null hypothesis was that there was no significant difference (a = 0.05) in the number of NHS dental examinations taken up by Scottish adults with increase in cost to the patient.


METHODS
Data for this retrospective study of cost and dental attendance between 1982-1998 was collected from the British Dental Association and Scottish Dental Practice Division. The number of examinations per month per dentist was calculated for the years 1982-1998 as an indicator of dental attendance.


RESULTS
The reported number of NHS dental examinations increased by 34% between 1982 and 1998 from 1,564,330 to 2,099,944. However the reported number of general dental practitioners working in the NHS in Scotland increased by 48% from 1362 to 2012. The number of examinations per month per dentist decreased from 95.71 in 1982 to 86.98 in 1998.


CONCLUSIONS
There was a significant (p = 0.001) reduction of 7.6% in the number of examinations per month per dentist after the introduction of charges. However within the charged data, while there is still a reduction, it was not significant. Other cost related factors may be influencing dental attendance and should be considered.
Lacey
S
S
Dental Institute, King's College London, SE1 9RT, UK. susanna.lacey@kcl.ac.uk
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003729:Dental Care / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000191:economics*; D009819:Office Visits / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011247:Pregnancy; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012606:Scotland