Children's utilization of dental care in the NC Medicaid program.

Purpose: To characterize the patterns of dental care in the North Carolina (NC) Medicaid Program for three- and eight-year-old children who began dental treatment in the 1985-86 and 1990-91 groups. We also compared the children's patterns of care by provider (general dentists versus pediatric dentists).

Methods: Our extensive data set included claims, enrollment, and provider data. Children were assigned to one of five categories or patterns of care as follows: complete care, general anesthesia care, sporadic care, emergency only care, and no care. Statistical comparisons of the variables age, cohort year, and provider groups were made.

Results: The use of Medicaid dental services by both age groups was severely limited in both yearly cohorts. Pediatric dentists tended to provide more complete and less sporadic care for both age groups and both yearly cohorts.

Conclusions: Financing dental care through Medicaid results in very low levels of complete care among enrollees, and any plan that limits referral to pediatric dentists might adversely affect the number of enrollees who receive complete care.