Characteristics of dentists providing dental care to publicly insured patients.

Objective: This study aims to identify the practice and patient care characteristics of dentists who provide care to publicly insured patients, beyond currently available existing information, which is typically limited to demographics of such dentists.

Methods: A cross-section of dentists in private practices in California was surveyed, with a 46 percent average adjusted response rate. The sample included 3,180 generalists or specialists who provided general care in private practice. Characteristics of dentists who provided care to publicly insured patients were examined in descriptive analyses. The independent association of dentist characteristics with the provision of any care and the provision of care to a significant number of publicly insured patients were examined in logistic regression analyses.

Results: Over 40 percent of dentists saw public patients. Regression analyses revealed that dentists who spent more time in periodontic and surgical care, saw more walk-in patients, had multilingual capacity, accepted reduced fees, had more minority patients, had fewer hygienists, or had multiple practice locations were more likely than those without such characteristics to provide care to publicly insured patients.

Conclusions: Dentists who care for publicly insured patients appear to have practices that are different from those who do not, in terms of delivery of patient care and practice structure. Such differences have implications for the access to and quality of dental health care of publicly insured patients. The success of public programs and policies aimed at ensuring access to dental care depends on ability and willingness of dentists to accommodate public patients' needs.