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Racial/Ethnic Disparities In Provision Of Dental Procedures To Children Enrolled In Delta Dental Insurance In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Pradeep Bhagavatula, Qun Xiang, Fredrick Eichmiller, Aniko Szabo, Christopher Okunseri

School of Dentistry Faculty Research and Publications

Objectives: Most studies on the provision of dental procedures have focused on Medicaid enrollees known to have inadequate access to dental care. Little information on private insurance enrollees exists. This study documents the rates of preventive, restorative, endodontic, and surgical dental procedures provided to children enrolled in Delta Dental of Wisconsin (DDWI) in Milwaukee.

Methods: We analyzed DDWI claims data for Milwaukee children aged 0-18 years between 2002 and 2008. We linked the ZIP codes of enrollees to the 2000 US Census information to derive racial/ethnic estimates in the different ZIP codes. We estimated the rates of preventive, restorative, endodontic, …

Predictors Of Dental Care Use: Findings From The National Longitudinal Study Of Adolescent Health, Christopher Okunseri, Elaye Okunseri, Raul I. Garcia, Alexis D. Visotcky, Aniko Szabo

School of Dentistry Faculty Research and Publications

Purpose

To examine longitudinal trends and associated factors in dental service utilization by adolescents progressing to early adulthood in the United States.

Methods

The data source was the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health from Waves I (1994–1995), II (1996), III (2001–2002), and IV (2007–2008). This was a retrospective, observational study of adolescents' transition to early adulthood. We obtained descriptive statistics and performed logistic regression analyses to identify the effects of baseline and concurrent covariates on dental service utilization from adolescence to early adulthood over time.

Results

Dental service utilization within the prior 12 months peaked at age 16 (72%), …