Abstract
In Romania, dental health services are provided mainly through user pays private practices and there is limited reimbursement of dental services for children from the government. The economic recession lead to substantial lack of insurance coverage for oral health care of low-income populations.
Aim: The aim of the study was to assess the impact of changes in the reimbursement of dental services on the demand for publicly funded emergency dental care for children provided by the Mures County Emergency Hospital, in the Mobile Emergency Service for Resuscitation and Extrication (MESRE), in Tirgu-Mures, Romania.
Methods: This four-year retrospective study was based on the analysis of patient’s dental records. Included in the study were all patients requesting emergency dental care at MESRE Dental Office in Tirgu- Mures since its establishment in 1st of February 2012. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Tirgu-Mures. Data were analysed using SPSS v 17 for Windows descriptive statistics. Student t-test was used and the significance level was set at p<0.05.
Results: During the study period a total of 26949 patients were treated in the emergency dental office and the proportion of children (aged 0-18- years) was 5169 (19.2%). Compared to the first year of the service, the proportion of emergency dental care visits was significantly higher in all other years, particularly in the period when dental care for children was not reimbursed by the public system (p<0.05). However, the highest rate of emergency dental visits was observed in the last year 1524 (22.2%).
Conclusions: The results highlighted that dental services for children were influenced by changing state insurance schemes. The high demand for emergency dental care reflects the need for community based public dental care in Tirgu-Mures, Romania.
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