Study Data from Pacific University Update Understanding of Managed Care (Understanding Utilization and Prevention Measures Associated With a Caries Risk Assessment In Oral Health Transformation): Managed Care

2025 MAR 26 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Research findings on Managed Care are discussed in a new report. According to news originating from Hillsboro, Oregon, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Dental decay is endemic in the United States, underscoring the need to measure the utilization of caries risk management tools to elucidate the effect of prevention interventions in reducing the dental decay rates of individuals. An academic institution partnered with a third-party institute to call attention to the utilization and prevention measures associated with caries risk assessment (CRA) used with children 0-18 years.”

Financial support for this research came from CareQuest Institute for Oral Health.

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Pacific University, “This environmental scan examined claims across the United States to evaluate the proportion of dental examinations, CRAs, and caries prevention procedures within a calendar year. A 12-month deidentified participant list categorized by age, race, sex, state of residence, and treatment dates was provided from the third-party database containing 14,625,751 Medicaid and commercial claims for dental examinations, CRAs, and caries prevention procedures performed in the calendar year 2022. The final data set (N = 9,351,848 patient examinations), 86.8% had a caries prevention procedure completed at the examination visit. Still, only 29.4% had a CRA Current Dental Terminology (CDT) coded on the same day of the dental examination. There were higher numbers of CRAs in the Medicaid payor group in states that require CRAs in conjunction with a dental examination. The utilization of the ADA CRA CDT codes, designed to stratify patients into caries risk categories of low, moderate, or high, was relatively low compared to the examination and prevention procedure claims.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Consistent utilization of these codes would allow for more effective monitoring of patient outcomes, supporting a data-driven approach to assessing oral health over time.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Understanding Utilization and Prevention Measures Associated With a Caries Risk Assessment In Oral Health Transformation. Journal of Public Health Dentistry, 2025. Journal of Public Health Dentistry can be contacted at: Wiley, 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774, NJ, USA. (Wiley-Blackwell - http://www.wiley.com/; Journal of Public Health Dentistry - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1752-7325)

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from Melody Mcgee, Pacific University, Sch Dent Hyg Studies, Hillsboro, OR 97123, United States. Additional authors for this research include Kristen Moses, Kristen Simmons, Ryan Brandon, Muhammad Walji, Joel White, Eric P. Tranby and Lisa J. Heaton.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1111/jphd.12666. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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