A study evaluating the impact of dental office closures due to the pandemic on the proportion of dental conditions in hospital emergency departments (EDs) among Medicaid-eligible children was presented at the 52nd AADOCR Annual Meeting and Exhibition /CHIP. The AADOCR/CADR Annual Meeting and Exposition was held at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland from March 15-18, 2023.
Shulamite S. Huang of New York University led the study that analyzed 2018-2020 New York Medicaid claims data to understand trends in dental and dental-related health care utilization among children with public insurance (N=3.2 million beneficiaries; n=2.6 million claims).
A difference-in-differences approach was used to characterize the change in dentistry-related emergency department (ED) load before, during, and after dental office closures due to the pandemic across New York State.
After controlling for seasonality, an overall increase of 30.3% (p<0.01) in the proportion of dental conditions in the ED was found in weeks 11-52 of 2020.
Although the increase in the burden of dental emergencies was concentrated in weeks 11 to 22 (corresponding to March-May) in 2020 during dental office closures (41.9% increase compared to the same weeks in previous years, p <0.01), the increase was maintained during the reopening period (25.6% increase, p<0.01).
During dental office closures, the increase was due to a shift toward emergency departments and out of dental clinics for dental care.
During the reopening period, the sustained increase in dental emergency burden was due to dental care utilization in all settings (dental practices and urgent care) recovering to pre-pandemic levels faster than visits to emergencies for all causes.
The study concluded that lack of access to dental care during a time of significant strain on the healthcare system led to additional burden on emergency services , and that future work is warranted to examine how to maintain access to dental care. dental care during times of stress in the healthcare system.
About AADOCR
The American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (AADOCR) is a nonprofit organization with a mission to advance dental, oral, and craniofacial research to promote health and well-being. AADOCR represents the individual scientists, clinical scientists, dental professionals, and students from academic, government, nonprofit, and private sector institutions who share our mission. AADOCR is the largest division of the International Association for Dental Research. Learn more at www.aadocr.org.
