Preventing Emergency-Based Dental Care
Dental professionals are well aware of the interconnectedness of oral and overall health. Strategies have been implemented to improve the oral health of children in the United States, but the oral health of the nation’s most vulnerable children remains in jeopardy. Test your knowledge on how access to professional dental care is the cornerstone of improving and maintaining oral health among all populations.
One indicator of how easily dental care can be obtained is to look at the number of people who visit hospital emergency departments (ED) for the treatment of dental problems. The Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS) contains information from approximately how many million hospital ED discharges?
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In a 2014 study in Pediatric Dentistry that utilized the NEDS database to identify the characteristics of children who visited EDs to receive treatment for dental conditions, how many children visited the ED for treatment of dental problems in 2008?
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Study results also showed that late adolescents (age 18 to 21) were the least likely to visit EDs for dental treatment.
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There are two primary reasons why children visit the ED with a dental problem: the pain has become so severe that emergency treatment is necessary, or the child does not have regular access to dental care, which may be due to a lack of insurance/funding, absence of a dental care provider with appointment availability in the patient’s geographic area, or lack of transportation to get to dental appointments.
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A major contributor to the access-to-care problem is the fact that this percentage of dentists in the US still practice in the traditional solo private practice.
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Large group practices can offer weekend and after-hours appointments that may improve utilization by at-risk populations.
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One strategy to improve access to care is to integrate dental hygienists into the medical practice where they can provide valuable preventive treatments such as the application of fluoride varnish and placement of dental sealants, while also providing critical oral health education to parents/caregivers.
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Broadening the ability of dental hygienists to provide care directly to patients outside of the traditional dental practice and the growth of expanded-function midlevel practitioners could help alleviate access-to-care problems.
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Preventing Emergency-Based Dental Care
Not bad, but there’s room to grow when it comes to understanding how to improve access to care. Consider reading more about this important facet of dental hygiene care. Good luck!
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