Dental Service Provision and Oral Health Conditions of Children Aged 0-12 Years, Northern Thailand: Transferring of Sub-District Health Promotion Hospitals Policy Era.

Background/Objectives: Some of the sub-district health promotion hospitals (SHPHs) have transferred to local administrative organizations (LAOs). This may impact dental services and oral health of children aged 0-12 years. This study aimed to investigate and compare the dental services and oral health conditions of children aged 0-12 years between transferred and non-transferred SHPHs in northern Thailand. Methods: The study was a retrospective cohort study. Data on dental service provision and oral health conditions were retrieved using secondary data from the national health security office between 2017 and 2021. The data were analyzed and presented using descriptive statistics, Chi-square test, and unpaired t-test. Results: Overall, the findings revealed that transferred SHPHs generally provided fewer dental services than non-transferred SHPHs. Regarding oral health conditions, transferred SHPHs reported a statistically significantly higher prevalence of dental caries compared to non-transferred SHPHs at the age of 3 years (31.3% vs. 22.2%), the age of 5 years (51.2% vs. 30.7%), and the age of 12 years (37.1% vs. 30%), respectively. Transferred SHPHs have higher decayed, missing, and filled teeth mean scores compared to non-transferred SHPHs in children aged 3 years (mean diff: 0.5; 95% CI: 0.3 to 0.7) and 12 years (mean diff: 0.3; 95% CI: 0.1 to 0.5). Conclusions: Transferred SHPHs have lower dental service provision but higher oral health problems than non-transferred SHPHs. Close monitoring for the dental service provision and oral health among children aged 0-12 years is needed, especially in the area of responsibility of the transferred SHPHs.