Dental Coverage and Care When Transitioning From Medicaid to Medicare.

Importance: Millions of adults with low incomes lose Medicaid eligibility when transitioning to Medicare at age 65 years. However, it remains unclear how this transition is associated with dental care.

Objective: To examine the consequences of transitions from Medicaid to Medicare on coverage and use of dental services.

Availability Of Adult Dental Plans In The Affordable Care Act Marketplaces, 2016-23.

The Affordable Care Act Marketplaces may improve access to dental insurance, but little is known about the availability of such coverage. We used data from state and federal Marketplace sources to describe the availability of adult dental plans, including Stand-alone Dental Plans and those embedded in medical plans. We also examined the characteristics of counties with limited dental insurer participation and those that experienced a net loss of Stand-alone Dental Plan insurers between 2016 and 2023.

Early changes in health coverage and access to dental care associated with Medicaid expansion under the COVID-19 pandemic.

The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic has affected early changes in health coverage and access to dental care services in states that expanded Medicaid versus those that did not is currently not well known. Using data from the National Health Interview Survey, we found that, during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, states that had previously expanded their Medicaid programs under the Affordable Care Act had lower uninsurance rates for White low-income adults (-8.8 percentage points; 95% CI: -16.

Fairness of Machine Learning Algorithms for Predicting Foregone Preventive Dental Care for Adults.

Importance: Access to routine dental care prevents advanced dental disease and improves oral and overall health. Identifying individuals at risk of foregoing preventive dental care can direct prevention efforts toward high-risk populations.

Objective: To predict foregone preventive dental care among adults overall and in sociodemographic subgroups and to assess the algorithmic fairness.

Comparison of Dental Care Visits Before and After Adoption of a Policy to Expand the Dental Workforce in Minnesota.

Importance: Currently, 13 states and tribal nations have expanded their dental workforce by adopting use of dental therapists. To date, there has been no evaluation of the influence of this policy on dental care use.

Objective: To assess changes in dental care use in Minnesota after the implementation of the policy to authorize dental therapists in 2009.

Chilling Effects on Immigrants' Health Insurance Coverage After the 2016 Presidential Election.

Background: Depressed enrollment in public benefits among immigrants and their families may occur due to concerns about deportation and obstacles to permanent residency status related to immigration policies.

Methods: Using data from the American Community Survey (ACS) from 2014 to 2019, we conducted an interrupted time series analysis to estimate Medicaid enrollment, private insurance enrollment, and uninsured rates among low-income non-citizen adults and their children, compared to U.S.

Dental Outcomes After Medicaid Insurance Coverage Expansion Under the Affordable Care Act.

Importance: Dental coverage for adults is a state option in Medicaid, and despite significant gains in coverage after the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), dental outcomes among adults in expansion states remain unexplored.

Objective: To explore the association of state coverage of dental benefits through Medicaid expansion with clinical dental outcomes.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cross-sectional study analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2009 to 2018.

Predictors of tooth loss: A machine learning approach.

Introduction: Little is understood about the socioeconomic predictors of tooth loss, a condition that can negatively impact individual's quality of life. The goal of this study is to develop a machine-learning algorithm to predict complete and incremental tooth loss among adults and to compare the predictive performance of these models.

Methods: We used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2011 to 2014.

Did Dental Insurance Expansion Improve Dental Care Needs Among Korean Adults? Difference in Difference Analysis.

Background: In 2012, the Korean government expanded dental insurance for the elderly to promote improved access to dental care. We examined the causal effect of this policy on dental care needs, focusing on low-income older adults.

Methods: We compared data before and after policy implementation using double difference (DD) and triple difference (DDD) analyses.

Medicaid healthy behavior incentives and use of dental services.

Objective: To examine changes in access to dental care in states using Section 1115 waivers to implement healthy behavior incentive (HBI) programs in their Medicaid expansion under the ACA, compared to traditional expansion states and nonexpansion states.

Data Sources: Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System from 2008 to 2018.

Study Design: We used difference-in-differences analysis to compare changes in three Medicaid expansion states with HBI (Iowa, Indiana, Michigan) to traditional expansion (Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio) and nonexpansion states (Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming) in the same mid-Western region of the country.

Association between cognitive health and masticatory conditions: a descriptive study of the national database of the universal healthcare system in Japan.

Cognitive health is subject to decline with increasing numbers of lost teeth which impacts mastication. This study is a descriptive data analysis of the association between masticatory and cognitive conditions using a large database. We obtained the dental and medical records from Japan's universal healthcare system (UHCS) from the national database in 2017.

Changes In Coverage And Access To Dental Care Five Years After ACA Medicaid Expansion.

With the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), millions of low-income adults gained health coverage. We examined how the ACA's expansion of Medicaid eligibility affected dental coverage and the use of oral health services among low-income adults, using data from the National Health Interview Survey from the period 2010-18. We found that the ACA increased rates of dental coverage by 18.

Prescribing patterns in a US dental school from 2010 to 2017.

Objective: Dental education has an essential role in helping combat the opioid and antibiotic resistance crises. This study evaluates the prescribing practices of clinical instructors, advanced graduate residents, and predoctoral students in an academic dental setting.

Methods: A retrospective chart review was conducted of electronic dental records from the years 2010 to 2017.

Changes in emergency department dental visits after Medicaid expansion.

Objectives: To estimate the effect of Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on the frequency and payment source for Emergency Department (ED) visits for dental care.

Study Design: Retrospective, quasi-experimental study.

Data Sources/study Setting: We used the State Emergency Department Database to compare changes in ED visit rates and payment source for dental conditions among patients from 33 states.

Comparison of the Color Appearance of Peri-implant Soft Tissue with Natural Gingiva Using Anodized Pink-Neck Implants and Pink Abutments: A Prospective Clinical Trial.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess the visual effects of pink-neck implants and pink abutments with respect to the color of natural gingiva. The distribution pattern and magnitude of CIELAB color difference coordinates were studied.

Materials And Methods: Forty subjects with a tooth in the maxillary esthetic zone deemed hopeless were recruited.

Socioeconomic status, oral health and dental disease in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States.

Background: Socioeconomic inequalities are associated with oral health status, either subjectively (self-rated oral health) or objectively (clinically-diagnosed dental diseases). The aim of this study is to compare the magnitude of socioeconomic inequality in oral health and dental disease among adults in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States (US).

Methods: Nationally-representative survey examination data were used to calculate adjusted absolute differences (AD) in prevalence of untreated decay and fair/poor self-rated oral health (SROH) in income and education.

Does providing dental services reduce overall health care costs?: A systematic review of the literature.

Background: The authors conducted a systematic review of the literature to assess the impact of dental treatment on overall health care costs for patients with chronic health conditions and patients who were pregnant.

Types Of Studies Reviewed: The authors searched multiple databases including MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, and Dentistry & Oral Sciences Source from the earliest date available through May 2017. Two reviewers conducted the initial screening of all retrieved titles and abstracts, read the full text of the eligible studies, and conducted data extraction and quality assessment of included studies.

Fracture Resistance of CAD/CAM-Fabricated Lithium Disilicate MOD Inlays and Onlays with Various Cavity Preparation Designs.

Purpose: To examine the fracture resistance of premolars restored with CAD/CAM lithium disilicate mesio-occlusal-distal (MOD) inlays and onlays of different cavity designs.

Materials And Methods: Two widths of occlusal isthmus (75%, 100% of intercuspal distance) and three designs of cuspal coverage (none, palatal, complete) were used for the preparation of MOD inlays and onlays in the extracted maxillary premolars. Sixty lithium disilicate restorations were milled and bonded into the cavities.

A prospective clinical trial to assess the optical efficacy of pink neck implants and pink abutments on soft tissue esthetics.

Objective: The purpose of this prospective, randomized, controlled, multicenter clinical study was to analyze the optical effects of an anodized pink colored implant shoulder/abutment system in the peri-implant mucosa of immediately placed dental implants.

Materials And Method: Forty subjects with a restoratively hopeless tooth in the maxillary esthetic zone, were recruited and randomized to receive either a pink-neck implant, or a conventional gray implant. All patients received an immediate implant and immediate provisional and two identical CAD/CAM titanium abutments with different surface colors: pink and gray, and one zirconia all-ceramic crown.

Social inequalities in tooth loss: A multinational comparison.

Objectives: To conduct cross-national comparison of education-based inequalities in tooth loss across Australia, Canada, Chile, New Zealand and the United States.

Methods: We used nationally representative data from Australia's National Survey of Adult Oral Health; Canadian Health Measures Survey; Chile's First National Health Survey Ministry of Health; US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey; and the New Zealand Oral Health Survey. We examined the prevalence of edentulism, the proportion of individuals having <21 teeth and the mean number of teeth present.

Sources of stress in Canadian dental students: a prospective mixed methods study.

The objectives of this study were to describe sources of stress in predoctoral dental students and first-year residents at one dental school and to understand how these sources evolved during the four-year curriculum and in the first year after graduation. The study used a mixed methods design. Quantitative data were collected from subjects in each of the five cohorts of students and residents, every month for a period of one year (other than the summer holiday period; N varied each month from 77 to 127).

Coping and psychological distress among head and neck cancer patients.

Introduction: Few studies have described the relationship between the psychological distress associated with head and neck cancer and how patients cope with their disease.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate how head and neck cancer patients 6-12 months after their diagnosis cope with their disease and how their coping skills are related to their anxiety and depression levels.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study among 157 head and neck cancer patients.