Study Discovers Disparities in Oral Health Care for Pediatric Patients Based on Geographic Location and Status of Insurance

According to a study published in The Journal of the American Dental Association, researchers found considerable geographic and insurance status disparities with respect to accessing oral health care among pediatric patients in different states and emphasized the necessity to identify these gaps in care and urged health care providers to implement measures to diminish these disparities.

Nicoleta Serban, PhD, Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, and colleagues employed statistical models to assess various communities and sought to explore the statistical consequences of disparities with regard to travel distance and status of insurance among pediatric patients. 

The study population included pediatric patients, and participants were categorized based on insurance status, including Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program, private insurance, and no insurance,

The researchers indicated that they quantified provider-level supply and defined it as the “ number of oral health care visits, stratified by provider type and urbanicity-rurality.”

The researchers specified demand as the number of pediatric dental visits. Data for derived demand and supply were obtained primarily from 2019 and 2020.

With regard to results, the authors wrote that “ Although Dental Health Professional Shortage Areas are primarily rural, this study found that the proportions of rural, suburban, and urban communities identified for access interventions ranged from 24% through 66% and from 8% through 86%, respectively. For some states (Florida, Louisiana, Texas), rural and suburban communities showed a need for interventions for all children, whereas, in the remaining states, the lack of Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program access mainly contributed to these disparities.”

The authors also indicated widespread disparities regarding access to oral health care in the aforementioned southeastern states and urbanicity-rurality.  The documented rate of communities in this study for diminishing rates of disparities varied from 1% to 100%.

The authors concluded, “ All states showed a need for access interventions and for reducing disparities due to geographic location or insurance status. The sources of disparities were different across states, suggesting the need for different policies and interventions across the 10 states.”

Lastly, the authors indicated that their findings from this study emphasize the urgent need to implement measures and policies to identify and address the disparities related to obtaining oral health care for pediatric patients. 

Reference

Serban N, Ma obtaining, Pospichel K, L. Evaluating access to pediatric oral health care in the southeastern states. J Am Dent Assoc. 2022;153(4):330-341.e12. doi:10.1016/j.adaj.2021.09.005.