title: Disparity between dental needs and dental treatment provided.
abstract: We hypothesized that more teeth would be treated by fee-for-service dentists than predicted by salaried dentists. In a cohort of 3818 participants, the number of teeth treated was related to the number of teeth with treatment needs by means of a zero-inflated negative binomial model. Among those obtaining dental care within 6 months (study population, n = 1239), the adjusted predicted number of teeth treated was 2 (95%CI = 1.7;2.3) for patients with no treatment needs. The sum of teeth treated by fee-for-service dentists (4374 when considering the whole cohort and 3550 when considering the study population) was much higher than that predicted by salaried dentists (4220 when considering the whole cohort and 1770 when considering the study population). Our findings demonstrate a disparity between dental needs assessment and the dental treatment actually provided.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Institute of Social Medicine, University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. erikanaegele@hotmail.com
authors.forename: E R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Naegele
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cunha-Cruz
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nadanovsky
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004245:DMF Index; D003729:Dental Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003793:Dental Restoration, Permanent / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018588:Fee-for-Service Plans; D005260:Female; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D054625:Healthcare Disparities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007347:Insurance, Dental; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012390:Root Canal Therapy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014081:Tooth Extraction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data