The purpose of this study was to determine the number of dental specialists who practice in the City of Boston and the unmet demand for dental specialty services by Medicaid and low income uninsured city residents. A complete list of dental specialists who practice in Boston was generated using the Massachusetts Dental Society Member Roster for 1998 and the 1999 Yellow Pages for the Boston Area. A 15 item pretested telephone survey of all of the dental specialists in the City of Boston was then performed. Of the 143 specialist offices called, 107 (74.83%) responded to the survey. The number of specialists per neighborhood varied from 63 specialists in one affluent neighborhood, to none in one of the lower income neighborhoods. Many other neighborhoods had an insufficient number of specialists. A majority of the responding pedodontists (80%), oral surgeons (68%), and orthodontists (65%) said they treated Medicaid patients whereas endodontists (4%), prosthodontists (0%), and periodontists (0%) said they treated few or no Medicaid patients. Although the numbers of specialists in a large urban city may be large, most are concentrated in certain areas, and may not be accessible to low income or Medicaid patients.
Learning Objectives: The learner will be able to identify the steps needed to do a survey of practicing dental specialists in a community. The learner will understand that the dentist population ratio for a large urban community needs to be broken down by neighborhoods. The learner will understand that dental specialists generally practice in high income neighborhoods rather than low income neighborhoods. The learner will recognize why there is an unmet demand for specialty dental services by low income populations
Keywords: Oral Health Needs, Service Delivery
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.