Nicholas M. Pajewski|Christopher Okunseri
Patterns of dental service utilization following nontraumatic dental condition visits to the emergency department in Wisconsin Medicaid
Wake Forest University|Marquette University
abstract objectives examine patterns dental service utilization adult medicaid enrollees wisconsin following nontraumatic dental condition ntdc visits emergency department ed methods retrospective observational study claims ntdc visits ed dental service encounters wisconsin medicaid evaluation decision support database 20012009 used competing risk models predict probabilities returning ed versus obtaining followup care dentist results observed 43 percent increase rate ntdc visits ed increase occurring 2001 2005 within 30 days ntdc visit ed 296 percent enrollees first visit dentist office 99 percent return ed young middleaged adults 18 lt50 years enrollees living counties lower supply dental providers likely return ed following ntdc visit among enrollees first visited dental office following ed visit 376 percent extraction performed visit conclusions almost one five adult medicaid enrollees subsequently return ed following previous ntdc visit provision definitive care individuals appears primarily consist extractions