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- Title
Access to Oral Health Care: The Role of Federally Qualified Health Centers in Addressing Disparities and Expanding Access.
- Authors
Jones, Emily; Shi, Leiyu; Hayashi, Arthur Seiji; Sharma, Ravi; Daly, Charles; Ngo-Metzger, Quyen
- Abstract
Objectives. We examined utilization, unmet need, and satisfaction with oral health services among Federally Qualified Health Center patients. We examined correlates of unmet need to guide efforts to increase access to oral health services among underserved populations. Methods. Using the 2009 Health Center Patient Survey, we performed multivariate logistic regressions to examine factors associated with access to dental care at health centers, unmet need, and patient experience. Results. We found no racial or ethnic disparities in access to timely oral health care among health center patients; however, uninsured patients and those whose insurance does not provide dental coverage experienced restricted access and greater unmet need. Slightly more than half of health center patients had a dental visit in the past year, but 1 in 7 reported that their most recent visit was at least 5 years ago. Among health center patients who accessed dental care at their health center, satisfaction was high. Conclusions. These results underscore the critical role that health centers play in national efforts to improve oral health status and eliminate disparities in access to timely and appropriate dental services.
- Subjects
UNITED States; SURVEYS; COMMUNITY health services; COMPUTER-aided design; CONFIDENCE intervals; STATISTICAL correlation; EPIDEMIOLOGY; HEALTH services accessibility; HEALTH status indicators; INTERVIEWING; MEDICAL needs assessment; MEDICALLY uninsured persons; PREVENTIVE dentistry; RESEARCH funding; STATISTICAL sampling; LOGISTIC regression analysis; DATA analysis; SECONDARY analysis; DESCRIPTIVE statistics
- Publication
American Journal of Public Health, 2013, Vol 103, Issue 3, p488
- ISSN
0090-0036
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2105/AJPH.2012.300846