Abstract
Objective: To determine whether long-term routine dental visiting through adolescence and into adulthood is associated with lower unmet treatment needs and costs by age 26 in a system where entitlement to State-funded dental care ceases at age 18.
Methods: Participants in the Dunedin study have been regularly assessed from birth, and dentally examined at a number of ages. At each of ages 15, 18 and 26, an estimate of basic dental treatment needs was obtained. These were converted into treatment costings in $NZ. Long-term regular users of dentistry (LTRUs) were identified as those whose last dental visit was routine rather than symptomatic, and for whom the time since the last dental visit was < 13 months (at each of ages 15, 18 and 26).
Results: Of the 691 Study members examined at all 3 ages and still resident in NZ by age 26, 136 (19.7%) were identified as LTRUs. Differences in the 2 groups' restorative treatment needs diverged over time: at age 15, the mean number of fillings needed among LTRUs and the 555 non-LTRUs were 0.20 and 0.29 respectively (P=0.23); at age 18, it was 0.21 and 0.48 (P=0.004); and it was 0.90 and 2.24 (P<0.001) by age 26. The estimated costs of the 2 groups' total treatment needs similarly diverged, being $105 and $112 respectively (P=0.32); at age 18, it was $115 and $139 (P=0.003); and it was $172 and $298 (P<0.001) by age 26.
Conclusions: Long-term regular use of dentistry is associated with lower accumulated treatment needs and costs by age 26.