title: A comparison of two models of dental care for Aboriginal communities in New South Wales.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Aboriginal people, and particularly those in rural areas, continue to suffer very high levels of dental disease despite significant reductions in the wider Australian population in the past 30 years. Until recently, there has been a shortage of oral health clinicians and the majority have provided care in major cities. The NSW Government funded various models of care for rural and regional areas and vulnerable population groups including Aboriginal people. This study utilizes a comparative retrospective analysis to compare two models of oral health care for Aboriginal people including those living in rural NSW to inform future policy decisions.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two models (Model A - Fly in Fly out and Model B - Collective impact) of public oral health care for Aboriginal patients in NSW were examined using publicly available descriptive information. Two years of funding and Dental Weighted Activity Units (DWAUs) data were analysed for the two different models and regression analysis was used to compare the trends of monthly time series of DWAUs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Based on the standardized national weighted pricing for public dentistry, model B offers significantly more services for less financial resources.
authors.affiliation: Poche Centre for Indigenous Health, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia.|Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Sydney, Lidcombe, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: K
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6897-4528
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gwynne
authors.affiliation: Armajun Aboriginal Health Service, Inverell, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: McCowen
authors.affiliation: Centre of Translational Data Science, Sydney Business School, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cripps
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Sydney, Lidcombe, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lincoln
authors.affiliation: Poche Centre for Indigenous Health, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia.|Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Irving
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Blinkhorn
mesh_terms: D003729:Dental Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D009517:New South Wales / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology; D009909:Oral Health; D009910:Oral Hygiene; D011634:Public Health; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D019035:Rural Health Services; D012424:Rural Population; D019037:Urban Health Services; D035862:Vulnerable Populations; D000095283:Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples
keywords: Aboriginal; efficiency; models of care; oral health; rural health