Caries experience among publicly‐funded dental patients in Australia, 1995‐96: Type of care and geographic location

Abstract

Health card holders are a financially disadvantaged group and are the target population eligible for publicly-funded dental care. While their health status is generally worse compared with other Australians, there is also considerable variation among card holders. The aims of this study were to describe the oral health status of publicly-funded dental patients by type of care, geographic location and age, and to compare trends over time against other Australian studies. Patients were sampled randomly, based on date of birth, by State/Territory dental services in 1995-96. Dentists recorded oral health measures at the initial visit of a course of care using written instructions, but there was no formal calibration. The 6109 patients sampled were weighted in proportion to the numbers of publiclyfunded dental patients for each State/Te r r i t o r y. Multiple linear regression analysis indicated that caries experience measured by the DMFT index increased across older age groups (p<0.05). For rural compared with urban patients, mean numbers of decayed and filled teeth tended to be higher. For emergency compared with non-emergency care, mean numbers of decayed and missing teeth were higher, and filled teeth lower. The findings of this monitoring survey document high levels of previous disease and treatment and indicate variation between subgroups of users of publicly-funded dental care. This included an uneven geographic distribution of oral health and disease, and variation in unmet treatment needs by type of course of care. Temporal comparisons indicate publicly-funded patients have experienced the population trend towards lower levels of tooth loss over time but have higher levels of untreated decayed teeth compared with the general population.

Restorative service patterns in Australia: amalgam, composite resin and glass ionomer restorations

“…Male dentists had an older age distribution than females, with higher percentages in the age groups 40-49 years (31.0 per cent us 25 There was generally close agreement between the distributions of respondents compared to the population of dentisrs", with a tendency for younger dentists to be slightly over-represented, and older dentists to be slightly underrepresented among the respondents. This was adjusted for in the weighting process.…”

Developing primary health clinical teams for public oral health services in Tasmania

“…28,29 The ongoing series of surveys have been useful in gathering baseline information. Uninsured, low income families living in low socio-economic areas in Australia have reported higher rates of edentulism, higher rates of extractions and lower rates of fillings with longer periods since the last visit when compared to people with dental insurance living in more affluent areas.…”

Social Inequality: Social inequality in perceived oral health among adults in Australia

“…4 The population monitoring and surveillance activity of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare's Dental Statistics and Research Unit (DSRU) has revealed persistent and significant differences between population groups in adult oral health in Australia for more than a decade, showing that adults who were economically disadvantaged experienced poorer oral health 5 as did Indigenous Australians, 6 older adults in residential care, 7 migrants, 8 rural and remote dwellers, 9 and adults eligible for publicly funded dental care. [10][11][12][13] The linkage by DSRU of 1987/88 National Oral Health Survey data to area indices of socioeconomic status revealed marked inequality in the rates of edentulism and in the prevalence of decayed, missing and filled teeth. 5 Other research found an eightfold difference in the percentage of adults aged 45-64 years who reported edentulism (complete tooth loss) across f ive levels of household income.…”