Effect of having a personal healthcare provider on access to dental care among children.
BACKGROUND
The current study examines the relationship between having a personal healthcare provider (PHP) and a child's receipt of dental visits during the preceding year. Whether the PHP relationship ameliorates rural/urban differences among US children was also examined.


METHODS
We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of data from the 2003 National Survey of Children's Health augmented with county-level ecological data from the 2003 Area Resource File. Independent variables were preventive dental visits and any dental visits. Control variables were demographic variables, special healthcare needs, health insurance, dental insurance, and primary care and dental HPSA status. Multiple logistic regression models were used to adjust for covariate effects.


RESULTS
Children with PHPs were more likely to have received preventive dental care and less likely to have received no dental care at all. Children who lacked PHPs were less likely to have received preventive care and more likely to lack any dental visit. Rural children, regardless of PHP status, were less likely to have received preventive care and more likely to have made no dental visit.


CONCLUSIONS
While having a PHP improves the likelihood a child will have dental visits in a year, the effect is not as strong for rural as for urban.
SC Rural Health Research Center, Department of Health Services Policy and Management, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA.
Amy Brock
AB
Martin
Janice
J
Probst
Jong-Yi
JY
Wang
Nathan
N
Hale
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003729:Dental Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D011313:Preventive Dentistry; D012424:Rural Population; D014481:United States