More than one-quarter of patients (27%) reported not having a current dentist and 15% reported specific challenges with access to dental care including burdens related to distance, insurance coverage, and finding a provider willing to treat in the setting of their medical condition. Those who were Medicaid eligible or of low socioeconomic status were significantly more likely to report dental care access issues, compared with other patients (20% vs. 9%; P = .01).
Oral screening performed by the dental hygienist demonstrated significant oral pathology: 89% of patients had plaque accumulation, 57% had white spots or decalcifications, 37% had gingivitis, and 8% had suspicious lesions suggestive of dental caries.
The researchers also found that having a caregiver with active oral disease in the past 12 months increased the odds of suspicious lesions (odds ratio, 4.34), increased the odds of gingivitis (OR, 3.80), and decreased the odds of the patients’ brushing their teeth at least twice per day (OR, 0.17).
“Hopefully, if we can target those high-risk patients in clinic, we could reduce costs, the number of bleeds, the number of products and factor used, and potentially even morbidity in the future,” Ms. Hastie said.
She acknowledged certain limitations of the study, including its single-center design and the fact that a dental hygienist performed the majority of evaluations. She reported having no financial disclosures.