Community dentistry and oral epidemiology
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Community Dent Oral Epidemiol · Jun 2009
Determinants of general dentists' decisions to accept capitation payment: a conceptual model and empirical estimates.
Shifts in payment options for dental care over several decades have resulted in more dental expenditures being paid through health maintenance organizations (HMOs), preferred provider organizations (PPOs), and capitation arrangements. Patients' and employers' choices to participate in these arrangements is determined in part by dentists' willingness to participate in plans, and plan choices may be influenced by patient satisfaction, self-reported oral health, and/or quality or cost of care. ⋯ Dentists' behavior regarding payment acceptance is generally consistent with microeconomic theory of provider behavior. Study findings should inform practitioners, plan managers, and researchers in examining dentist payment decisions.
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Community Dent Oral Epidemiol · Jun 2009
Comparative StudyPredictors of dental care utilization among working poor Canadians.
This study used the Gelberg-Andersen Behavioral Model for Vulnerable Populations to identify predictors of dental care utilization by working poor Canadians. ⋯ This study identified predisposing and enabling vulnerabilities that jeopardize the dental care-seeking practices of working poor persons. Dental care utilization was associated with relinquishing spending on other goods and services, which suggests that dental care utilization is a competing financial demand for economically constrained adults.
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Community Dent Oral Epidemiol · Jun 2009
Comparative StudyRelationship of quantitative salivary levels of Streptococcus mutans and S. sobrinus in mothers to caries status and colonization of mutans streptococci in plaque in their 2.5-year-old children.
The aim of this study was to assess the relationships of quantitative salivary levels of Streptococcus mutans and S. sobrinus in mothers with the colonization of mutans streptococci (MS) in plaque and caries status in their 2.5-year-old children. Furthermore, the dynamics of caries status in the children was evaluated in a 2-year follow-up survey. ⋯ In the 54 mother-and-child pairs tested, the maternal salivary levels of S. mutans and S. sobrinus determined by real-time PCR were significantly related to MS colonization in plaque as well as dental caries in their children at 2.5 years of age. Thus, determination of maternal levels of both organisms using the present cut-off values is proposed as an efficient method to indicate the risks of maternal transmission of MS and childhood dental caries.