A Puzio*, JF Stewart, KD Carter, AJ Spencer Dental insurance is associated with dental attendance patterns and service provision. This study examines knowledge of insurance rebates, post-rebate uptake of private dental insurance and the subsequent use of dental services within the Australian population. The study uses population level data collected in the 1999 National Dental […]

Kaye Roberts-Thomson. Oral health is the ability to eat, speak and socialise without discomfort or embarrassment, and without active disease in the mouth which affects overall well-being. It relates to very basic human functions. Oral diseases are among the most prevalent, affecting all age groups and, like general health problems, affect the poor more than […]

AE Sanders*, AJ Spencer. Objectives: To examine social inequality in oral health related quality-of-life among dentate Australian adults and to investigate associations between outcomes and psychosocial factors.  Method: Data were collected with the 1999 National Dental Telephone Interview Survey and the Dental Health and Lifestyle Factors questionnaire survey mailed to adult interviewees. The questionnaire response rate was […]

This study compared the oral health, social impact and dental visiting patterns of persons on legacy waiting lists (LWL) for public dental care for 12, 24 and 36+ months. Respondents completed a questionnaire on use of dental services and social impact of oral health and were examined. Response yields of 26.4%, 20.0%, and 14.4% were […]

The aim of the study is to describe the practice activity of the dental hygienist labour force in Australia and identify emerging trends comparing data from previous labour force collections. In the last quarter of 2000 a comprehensive mail out was conducted of the Australian dental hygienist labour force in the seven States and Territories […]

This study examined the extent to which oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) was explained by work-related factors. Subjects were dentate adults in paid employment (n=2,376; mean age=38.0 years) who completed the 1999 National Dental Telephone Interview Survey (response = 56.6%) and follow-up mail survey (response = 64.6%). The dependent variable for OHRQoL was the […]

While oral health of children has improved over recent decades, recent research indicates that the percentages visiting regularly falls away among young adults. Objectives: To investigate changes over time in the use of dental services between 1987-88 and 2001 among a synthetic birth cohort of young adults. Design: Data from six social surveys across 1987/88 […]

Pressures on public dental services require new approaches to managing demand. Objective: this study aimed to assess the reasonableness of patient presentation for emergency dental care by means of developing and evaluating indices of relative need for care. Methods: the study examined associations between subjective indicators and clinical judgement of urgency for ’emergency’ dental care in adults […]

Objective: To evaluate the effects of tooth loss and age on oral health impacts in two nationally-representative adult populations. Methods: Frequency of impacts was measured using the 14-item Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP) in cross-sectional national surveys of representative samples of adults in the United Kingdom (n=5,281) and Australia (n=3,910). OHIP scores were expressed as the sum […]

The NSW Department of Health, Oral Health Branch and the AIHW Dental Statistics and Research Unit (DSRU) have entered into a collaborate initiative to evaluate an innovative NSW Oral Health Branch triage system to prioritise patients seeking oral health care. DSRU is evaluating the efficacy of the new system in allocating urgency codes to oral […]