Use of Dental Services Among Adults with Diabetes and Hypertension: Results From a National Survey

Objectives: Oral health has been shown to have a great impact on the general health and overall quality of life on an individual. Individuals who lose teeth have compromised nutritional intake. Further, studies have shown disparities in psychosocial impact of oral health. The problem is exacerbated in diabetic patients who lack proper management of the disease. The presence of diabetes in an individual also increases the risk of periodontal disease problem. Dental services use is measured by whether or not the patient had used dental services on the 12 month period preceding the interview. We estimate the odds of dental services use among hypertensive and diabetic adults in the US.  Methods: Data for adult Americans from the 2012 National Health Interview Survey (n=12,235) were analyzed using STATA 12 software package for windows. Descriptive statistics, bivariate analysis were performed to determine association between the covariates and loss of teeth. Further we examine the interaction between diabetes and hypertension and the odds of dental services use. Results: Overall 55% (vs 45%) of the sample reported use of dental services, and 18.7% had dental insurance.  Results: Preliminary results suggest that gender, age, marital status, race, education, income, alcohol intake, overweight, cigarette smoking, insurance, and region of residence are significantly associated with dental service use (p<0.05). The interaction of diabetes and high blood pressure is also significantly associated with increased odds of dental service use (p=0.000). Conclusion: Strategies for increasing dental services use will be discussed along with detailed results of the regression analysis.