Increased public reimbursement for prophylactic visits with dentists associated with increased receipt of preventive dental services in children.

Objective: To determine whether higher reimbursement for children's preventive dentistry correlates with greater utilization of preventive dental care.

Methods: A cross-sectional analysis of National Survey of Children's Health 2011/2012 was conducted, combined with state Medicaid reimbursement rates for preventive dentistry. Analyses included prevalence, unadjusted odds ratios, and multivariable logistic regression for receipt of preventive dental services.

A population-based study of periodontal care among those with and without diabetes.

Background: Our objectives were to describe the prevalence of periodontal care (a marker of periodontitis) among persons with and without diabetes and to examine the association between periodontal care and diabetes.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis, using 5 years of electronic data from a population-based cohort (N = 46,132), aged 40 to 70 years, with dental and medical insurance, and ≥ 1 dental and ≥ 1 medical visit. Periodontal care (yes/no) was defined by dental claims codes for procedures used to manage periodontitis.

Envisioning success: the future of the oral health care delivery system in the United States.

The elimination of oral health disparities in the US will require enhancing access to oral health care services. The workshop convened in 2009 by the Institute of Medicine on the "US Oral Health Workforce in the Coming Decade" highlighted both the current workforce's failure to meet the nation's needs as well as the promising opportunities presented by various workforce strategies to significantly enhance access and improve oral health outcomes. In this article, we have briefly reviewed and expanded on the contributions in this special issue of the Journal of Public Health Dentistry, with the goal of identifying common themes and providing a framework for evaluation.

Case study of linking dental and medical healthcare records.

Objective: To link the administrative data of a large dental carrier and an integrated health plan in Washington State to conduct an observational study of diabetes and periodontal disease.

Study Design: Evaluation of variable suitability, testing of linkage variables, and performing an n - 1 deterministic linkage strategy.

Methods: We examined a variety of administrative data variables for their consistency over time and their information richness to use as matching variables.