This study emphasises the urgent need for the development of strategies targeting Aboriginal oral health, both as stand alone, and as part of a multifactorial risk factor approach where oral health is integral to general health activities.
Background: This study investigated in-patient oral health care provision for children under 18 years of age in Western Australia. Methods: Hospitalizations of children for oral health conditions over a four-year period were analysed using data obtained from the Western Australian Hospital Morbidity Data System (HMDS). This study followed a previously published study examining similar data for 1995. Results: Between 1999Between -2000Between and 2002Between -2003, a total of 26 497 episodes of care were attributed to oral health conditions among children aged 0-17 years. The cost of this care exceeded $40 million. Embedded and impacted teeth accounted for 33.2 per cent of oral health episodes, dental caries 28.3 per cent, pulp and periapical tissue conditions 7.1 per cent and dentofacial anomalies 6.1 per cent. With the exception of the infant age group (0-1 years), non-Aboriginal children had higher admission rates than Aboriginal children. In the 13-17 year age group a non-Aboriginal child was 31 times more likely to be admitted to hospital for an oral condition than an Aboriginal child. Conclusions: This study confirms the impact of oral health related conditions among children in Western Australia. It is also clear that there are differences between age and population groups in terms of access to in-patient dental services and exposure to risk factors for specific oral conditions.
The use of networked models have been effective in other disciplines but this study is the first to show a networked hub and spoke approach of five spokes to one hub is cost efficient in remote oral health care. By excluding special cost-saving initiatives introduced by the Centre, the study examines easily translatable direct service provision costs against direct clinical care outcomes in some of Australia's most challenging locations. This study finds that networked hub and spoke models of care can be financially efficient arrangements in remote oral health care.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.