Interest in Accessing Integrated Dental Services in Primary Care Among Patients with Low Dental Care Utilization.

Purpose Medical-dental integration models in primary care settings offer opportunities to increase access to oral health care, particularly for vulnerable populations. The purpose of this study was to assess dental care utilization and measure patient interest in accessing integrated dental services...

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Publicado en:Journal of Dental Hygiene Vol. 99; no. 5; pp. 59 - 66
Autores principales: Ahern, John, Bronstein, Ariela Braverman, Tam, Caleb
Formato: research tables/charts Journal Article
Publicado: American Dental Hygienists Association Oct2025
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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      dt: Oct2025
      vid: 99
      iid: 5
      pid: 1936
      pub: American Dental Hygienists Association
      place: Chicago, Illinois
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        atl: Interest in Accessing Integrated Dental Services in Primary Care Among Patients with Low Dental Care Utilization.
      aug:
        au:
          Ahern, John
          Bronstein, Ariela Braverman
          Tam, Caleb
        affil: Department of Family Medicine, Cambridge Health Alliance, Cambridge, MA, USA
      sug:
        subj:
          Dental Health Services
          Health Services Accessibility Evaluation
          Health Care Delivery, Integrated
          Help Seeking Behavior Evaluation
          Primary Health Care
          Health Resource Utilization Evaluation
          Patient Attitudes Evaluation
          Accountable Care Organizations
          Hospital Programs
          Program Evaluation
          Human
          Cross Sectional Studies
          Male
          Female
          Infant, Newborn
          Infant
          Child, Preschool
          Child
          Adolescence
          Adult
          Middle Age
          Convenience Sample
          Massachusetts
          Questionnaires
          Descriptive Statistics
          Multiple Logistic Regression
          Odds Ratio
          Confidence Intervals
          Dental Hygienists
          Teledentistry
          Appointments and Schedules
          Oral Health
          Health Promotion
          Bivariate Statistics
          Multivariate Analysis
          Insurance, Health
          Infant, Newborn: birth-1 month
          Infant: 1-23 months
          Child, Preschool: 2-5 years
          Child: 6-12 years
          Adolescent: 13-18 years
          Adult: 19-44 years
          Middle Aged: 45-64 years
          Male
          Female
      ab: Purpose Medical-dental integration models in primary care settings offer opportunities to increase access to oral health care, particularly for vulnerable populations. The purpose of this study was to assess dental care utilization and measure patient interest in accessing integrated dental services within the primary care setting, among patients attending a primary care practice participating in MassHealth's Accountable Care Organization program. Methods Convenience sampling was used to recruit participants from a safety-net health care system serving the greater Boston area. A 10-item survey was used to collect data on dental care utilization and measure interest in accessing integrated dental services at one primary care practice. Descriptive statistics, in addition to bivariate and multivariate logistic regression models were used to characterize the sample and explore dental care utilization associations. Results A total of 149 individuals participated, with over half (52%) reporting dental care utilization in the past year. Participants with public insurance were less likely to have seen a dental provider compared to those with private insurance (OR=0.35, 95% CI [0.12, 0.99]). Most patients (77.2%) expressed interest in accessing both in-person appointments with dental hygienists and teledentistry appointments with dentists (63.8%). When asked to choose between the two services, integrated dental hygienist appointments emerged as the more popular option for a majority of respondents (83.9%) Interest in accessing teledentistry appointments was higher among non-English speakers (OR=2.76, 95% CI [1.19, 6.40]). Conclusion Patients with low dental care utilization showed high interest in accessing integrated dental services at a primary care practice that participates in MassHealth's Accountable Care Organization program, supporting moving forward with pilot initiatives to evaluate implementation strategies.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        research
        tables/charts
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
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