Researchers at Marquette University Discuss Findings in Dentistry (Differences in utilization of dental procedures by children enrolled in Wisconsin…

Researchers at Marquette University Discuss Findings in Dentistry (Differences in utilization of dental procedures by children enrolled in Wisconsin Medicaid and Delta Dental insurance plans)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News -- Current study results on Dentistry have been published. According to news originating from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, by VerticalNews correspondents, research stated, "Few studies have directly compared dental procedures provided in public and private insurance plans for enrollees living in dental health professional shortage areas (DHPSAs). We examined the rates for the different types of dental procedures received by 0-18-year-old children living in DHPSAs and non-DHPSAs who were enrolled in Medicaid and those enrolled under Delta Dental of Wisconsin (DDW) for years 2002 to 2008."

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Marquette University, "Medicaid and DDW dental claims data for 2002 to 2008 was analyzed. Enrollees were divided into DDW-DHPSA and non-DHPSA and Medicaid-DHPSA and non-DHPSA groups. Descriptive and multivariable analyses using over-dispersed Poisson regression were performed to examine the effect of living in DHPSAs and insurance type in relation to the number of procedures received. Approximately 49 and 65 percent of children living in non-DHPSAs that were enrolled in Medicaid and DDW received at least one preventive dental procedure annually, respectively. Children in DDW non-DHPSA group had 1.79 times as many preventive, 0.27 times fewer complex restorative and 0.51 times fewer endodontic procedures respectively, compared to those in Medicaid non-DHPSA group. Children enrolled in DDW-DHPSA group had 1.53 times as many preventive and 0.25 times fewer complex restorative procedures, compared to children in Medicaid-DHPSA group. DDW enrollees had significantly higher utilization rates for preventive procedures than children in Medicaid."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "There were significant differences across Medicaid and DDW between non-DHPSA and DHPSA for most dental procedures received by enrollees."

For more information on this research see: Differences in utilization of dental procedures by children enrolled in Wisconsin Medicaid and Delta Dental insurance plans. Journal of Public Health Dentistry, 2016;():. Journal of Public Health Dentistry can be contacted at: Blackwell Publishing Inc, 350 Main St, Malden, MA 02148, USA. (Wiley-Blackwell - www.wiley.com/; Journal of Public Health Dentistry - onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1752-7325)

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from P. Bhagavatula, Dept. of Clinical Services, Marquette University School of Dentistry, Milwaukee, WI, United States. Additional authors for this research include Q. Xiang, A. Szabo, F. Eichmiller and C. Okunseri.

The publisher's contact information for the Journal of Public Health Dentistry is: Blackwell Publishing Inc, 350 Main St, Malden, MA 02148, USA.

Keywords for this news article include: Medicaid, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Dentistry, United States, Health Policy, Insurance Companies, North and Central America.

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