The relationship between NHS patient charges and the uptake of dental examinations by Scottish adults 1982-1998.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to determine if increasing cost to the patient of an NHS dental examination was associated with a change in the uptake of dental examinations by Scottish adults aged 18 years and over. The null hypothesis was that there was no significant difference (a = 0.05) in the number of NHS dental examinations taken up by Scottish adults with increase in cost to the patient.

METHOD: Data for this retrospective study of cost and dental attendance between 1982-1998 was collected from the British Dental Association and Scottish Dental Practice Division. The number of examinations per month per dentist was calculated for the years 1982-1998 as an indicator of dental attendance.

RESULTS

The reported number of NHS dental examinations increased by 34% between 1982 and 1998 from 1,564,330 to 2,099,944. However the reported number of general dental practitioners working in the NHS in Scotland increased by 48% from 1362 to 2012. The number of examinations per month per dentist decreased from 95.71 in 1982 to 86.98 in 1998.

CONCLUSION

There was a significant (p = 0.001) reduction of 7.6% in the number of examinations per month per dentist after the introduction of charges. However within the charged data, while there is still a reduction, it was not significant. Other cost related factors may be influencing dental attendance and should be considered.