Comparing epidemiologically estimated treatment need with treatment provided in two dental schemes in Ireland

BMC Oral Health

Table 4 Mean number of teeth per person with epidemiologically estimated treatment need and treatment provided

	Number of teeth present	Extractions	Restorations	Advanced restorations
16-24 year-olds
Scheme 1: Employed
Estimated need (survey regular)	28.3 (2.0)	0.2 (0.4)	1.5 (1.7)	0.1 (0.4)
Treatment provided (claims data)	29.0 (2.7)	0.3 (0.7)	2.0 (2.8)	0.1 (0.3)
	**			*
Scheme 2: Less well-off
Estimated need (survey regular)	27.9 (2.1)	0.1 (0.4)	0.9 (1.4)	0.0 (0.2)
Treatment provided (claims data)	NA	0.5 (1.1)	3.0 (3.9)	0.1 (0.4)
		***	****
35-44 year-olds
Scheme 1: Employed
Estimated need (survey regular)	26.6 (3.4)	0.4 (1.3)	0.8 (1.7)	0.2 (0.8)
Treatment provided (claims data)	26.6 (4.6)	0.2 (0.7)	1.4 (2.0)	0.0 (0.2)
		****	****	****
Scheme 2: Less well-off
Estimated need (survey regular)	24.7 (5.2)	0.6 (1.6)	1.4 (1.8)	0.2 (0.4)
Treatment provided (claims data)	NA	0.9 (2.0)	2.7 (3.5)	0.1 (0.4)
			**	*
65+ year-olds
Scheme 1: Employed
Estimated need (survey regular)	18.4 (6.8)	0.7 (1.9)	1.0 (1.5)	0.1 (0.4)
Treatment provided (claims data)	17.2 (8.7)	0.3 (1.0)	1.1 (1.8)	0.0 (0.2)
		*		**
Scheme 2: Less well-off
Estimated need (survey regular)	16.0 (7.1)	2.4 (4.2)	0.8 (1.3)	0.0 (0.2)
Treatment provided (claims data)	NA	0.8 (1.7)	1.4 (2.6)	0.0 (0.3)
		****	*

Survey regular: adults who said they were regular visitors to the dentist in the survey. Claims data: adults who used the schemes from October 2000 to August 2002. NA = not available. Standard deviations are in parentheses. * p <0.05; **p <0.01; ***p <0.001; ****p <0.0001, where there is a significant difference between mean epidemiologically estimated treatment need and mean treatment provided based on the unpaired student’s t-test to compare means. Both dentate and edentulous adults were used as the denominator as it was not possible to determine dentate status from the DTSS claims database.

ISSN: 1472-6831