OBJECTIVES: This study aims to investigate the trends and progress in oral health status, dental service items, and fees among children receiving community-based registered dental care over a three-year period. METHODS: The study subjects were selected from nine community children centers in J district of S city, in the Korean province of Gyeonggi-do. The sample included 222 children who had received care in 2011 and 2012, and 205 children, in 2013. The dependent variables were oral health status (df index and decayed-missing-filled teeth index), dental service items (total number of visits and dental fillings by type), and dental fees (total fees, National Health Insurance [NHI] coverage, and NHI non-coverage), analyzed by year. The percentages of dental caries and dental service items were tested using chi-square analysis, and the mean of each variable, including dental fees, was tested using the Kruskal-Wallis method, owing to non-parametric distribution. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant decrease in the rate of dental clinic visits for treatment, and an increase in the mean numbers of filled teeth and sealants performed per year. The rate and number of dental fillings increased steadily, whereas the services for oral health promotion and prevention were decreased. The number of dental visits and the total fees decreased steeply, especially within the second half of the last measured year: around 90,000 earned within that time, compared to 170,000 earned during the first year. CONCLUSIONS: Dental clinic visits should be encouraged on a regular basis for oral health promotion and prevention by both patients and providers using capitation payment systems, for example. It is necessary to monitor and provide training for all related staff by developing a manual for oral health examination and treatment, adjusted for the registered dental system. Policy measures addressing the needs of vulnerable social groups are needed more than ever. Therefore, it is important to provide as much targeted support and training to the registered dental system as possible.
Child Health Services ; Child* ; Dental Care ; Dental Caries ; Dental Clinics ; Dentists* ; Fees and Charges* ; Fees, Dental ; Gyeonggi-do ; Humans ; Insurance, Dental ; National Health Programs ; Oral Health* ; Tooth

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to identify a relationship between dental service items and fees among dental clinics; this is important when deciding capitation rates for a registered system. The status of oral health, use of dental service items, and amount of dental fees for community care children were compared according to the dental clinics with which they were registered. The dental fees were analyzed using the oral health risk assessment components to identify the relationship between them. METHODS: The study subjects comprised 182 children from 8 community children centers in J district, S city, Gyeonggi-do. The independent variables were the dental clinics and the dependent variables were oral health status (decayed, missing, filled teeth [DMFT] index or df index), dental service items (total number of visits and dental filling type), and dental fees (total fees, National Health Insurance [NHI] coverage, and NHI non-coverage). The variables displayed a nonparametric distribution and were hence analyzed by the Kruskal-Wallis test. The nonparametrically distributed oral health risk assessment components were analyzed by the Mann-Whitney test. RESULTS: The higher the DMFT index, the higher the number of dental clinic visits and number of children with dental fillings. There were differences in the number of dental fillings between clinics except for resin-based fillings; this gap was wider for amalgam and gold inlay fillings. The dental fees differed between clinics and was probably dependent on the whether the major dental service type was NHI-covered or non-covered. "Anterior caries or restorations" in children with caries and "plaque retaining factors" in children with periodontal disease experience/plaque displayed statistically significant differences for total fees and NHI non-covered fees, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The preference for specific service items leads to a difference in dental fees. It is essential to develop guidelines under a capitation agreement and practice them in order to achieve a successful registered dental system.
Child ; Child Health Services ; Dental Care ; Dental Clinics ; Dentists ; Fees and Charges ; Fees, Dental ; Humans ; Inlays ; Insurance, Dental ; National Health Programs ; Oral Health ; Periodontal Diseases ; Risk Assessment ; Tooth

Digital radiographic systems allow the implementation of a fully digital picture archiving and communication system (PACS), and provide the greater dynamic range of digital detectors with possible reduction of X-ray exposure to the patient. This article reviewed the basic physical principles of digital radiographic imaging system in dental clinics generally. Digital radiography can be divided into computed radiography (CR) and direct radiography (DR). CR systems acquire digital images using phosphor storage plates (PSP) with a separate image readout process. On the other hand, DR systems convert X-rays into electrical charges by means of a direct readout process. DR systems can be further divided into direct and indirect conversion systems depending on the type of X-ray conversion. While a direct conversion requires a photoconductor that converts X-ray photons into electrical charges directly, in an indirect conversion, light-sensitive sensors such as CCD or a flat-panel detector convert visible light, proportional to the incident X-ray energy by a scintillator, into electrical charges. Indirect conversion sensors using CCD or CMOS without lens-coupling are used in intraoral radiography. CR system using PSP is mainly used in extraoral radiographic system and a linear array CCD or CR sensors, in panoramic system. Currently, the digital radiographic system is an important subject in the dental field. Most studies reported that no significant difference in diagnostic performance was found between the digital and conventional systems. To accept advances in technology and utilize benefits provided by the systems, the continuous feedback between doctors and manufacturers is essential.
Dental Clinics ; Fees and Charges ; Hand ; Humans ; Light ; Photons ; Radiographic Image Enhancement ; Radiography, Dental, Digital

OBJECTIVES: This study discussed dental care utilization efficiency and equity from the perspective of private health insurance policy using the 2011 Korea Health Panel dataset. METHODS: A total of 10,577 subjects, aged 20 years or older, were selected from a larger sample (N=18,256). The study conducted a two-part model analysis to determine the impact of private health insurance on utilization and amount of dental care. RESULTS: Average monthly payment of private health insurance is 76,727 KRW. Analysis of average monthly fees and income distribution by quartile showed that higher income groups pay proportionally more for private health insurance. The highest income group was 3.82 times more likely to have private health insurance than the lowest income group. Those with private health insurance coverage had a higher probability of using dental care but were not more likely to use a greater number of dental services. CONCLUSIONS: Based on these empirical findings, a guarantee of health care system and policy equity and efficiency should be established for changes in private health insurance.
Dataset ; Delivery of Health Care ; Dental Care* ; Fees and Charges ; Income ; Insurance, Health* ; Korea

PURPOSE: Hand-held dental x-ray system is a self contained x-ray machine designed to perform intraoral radiography with one or two hands. The issue about its usage as general dental radiography is still in dispute. The aim of the present study was to assess the relationship between the amount of battery charge and the tube voltage in different hand-held dental x-ray systems. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seven hand-held dental x-ray units were used for the study. Tube voltage was measured with Unfors ThinX RAD (Unfors Instruments AB, Billdal, Sweden) for 3 consecutive exposures at the different amount of battery charge of each unit. The average and the deviation percentage of measured kV from indicated kV of each unit were calculated. RESULTS: Tube voltage of only 1 unit was 70 kV (indicated by manufacturer) and those of the others were 60 kV. Tube voltage deviation percentage from the indicated kV at the fully charged battery was from 2.5% to -5.5% and from -0.8% to -10.0% at the lowest charged battery. CONCLUSION: Tube voltages of all units decreased as the residual amount of the battery charge decreased. It is suggested that the performance test for hand-held x-ray system should be performed for the minimum residual charged battery as well as the full charged one. Persistent battery charging is suggested to maintain the proper tube voltage of the hand-held portable x-ray system.
Dissent and Disputes ; Fees and Charges ; Hand ; Occupational Exposure ; Radiation Protection ; Radiation, Ionizing ; Radiography, Dental

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed at assessing the quality of dental services, as perceived by the disabled, and analyzing the factors identified to be of both high importance and low performance, as identified by IPA. METHODS: The data were collected from June 8 to November 2, 2016, after approval by the institutional review board. Questionnaires were distributed to 1466 disabled dental service consumers, of which 349 cases were included. The data were analyzed by frequency analysis, multi-regression analysis for implicit importance, and IPA matrix for marketing strategy. RESULTS: The performance results revealed that cost level, reduction of the fee, and waiting time for treatments were the sources of greatest dissatisfaction. The IPA matrix results categorized the next appointment, explanation of the fee, waiting time for treatment, professionalism of the staff, and convenient facilities as high-importance, low-performance factors. Meanwhile, the results of the IPA matrix for consumer segmentation, according to recently used dental institutions were different. The dental clinic users evaluated professionalism of the staff, convenience of the facility, explanation of the fee, and cost level as high-importance, low-performance attributes. The dental hospital users indicated that waiting time for treatment and next appointment were high-importance, low-performance attributes. Finally, the public health center users indicated that convenience of booking, waiting time for treatment, convenience of facilities, reduction of the fee, and next appointment as high-importance, low-performance attributes. CONCLUSIONS: To improve the quality of dental service, we need to understand the needs of the dental patients with disability. All attributes that were categorized as high-importance, low-performance must be improved first and should accordingly be used as strategic factors to increase satisfaction with oral medical institutions.
Dental Clinics ; Ethics Committees, Research ; Fees and Charges ; Humans ; Marketing ; Professionalism ; Public Health

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to compare awareness on scaling and satisfaction regarding national health insurance scaling to several general characteristics, to awareness of oral health, and to pre- and post-operative experience of the national health insurance dental scaling program. METHODS: The study was conducted over a 1 month period from August 1, 2014, to September 1, 2014. All subjects were asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire. A total of 261 questionnaires were used in the final analysis (incorrectly completed questionnaires were excluded). The data was subsequently analyzed (including t-test, one way ANOVA, and Pearson's correlation coefficient) using SPSS version 20.0. RESULTS: In total, 91.6% of respondents were aware of the national health insurance scaling program. Furthermore, 81.8% said that they were satisfied with national health insurance scaling. The majority of the respondents (69.0%) were also satisfied with the national health insurance scaling fee. Although 71.6% were satisfied with national health insurance scaling age, only 60.5% were satisfied with the frequency of national health insurance scaling. The disparity in the reported awareness on scaling and on national health insurance scaling was showed to be statistically significant (p<0.05). Moreover, the reported difference between satisfaction on national health insurance scaling and satisfaction with the scaling experience was also significant (p<0.05). Finally, there was a significant difference between reported awareness on scaling, awareness on national health insurance scaling, and satisfaction with national health insurance scaling (p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The results presented in this study reveal that awareness of scaling, awareness on national health insurance scaling and satisfaction with national health insurance scaling are important influencing factors. These results should be carefully considered in any plans to expand preventive dental healthcare clinics. In conclusion, a more systematic oral-health policy (especially regarding scaling) needs to be established to improve national oral health and quality of life.
Surveys and Questionnaires ; Delivery of Health Care ; Dental Scaling* ; Fees and Charges ; National Health Programs* ; Oral Health ; Quality of Life

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to estimate the financial budget of light-curing composite resin fillings based on the expanded coverage of the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS), called “Moon Care.” METHODS: The estimated population with dental caries and the amount of light-curing composite resins used were determined. The fees for the resin fillings per tooth were considered for the calculations. The expected budget for the next five years for children and adolescents aged 5–12 and 5–19 years were calculated. RESULTS: During the first year of the coverage, the budget for children and adolescents aged <19 years was estimated to be 201.8 billion South Korean won (5–9 years, 17.9 billion South Korean won; 10–14 years, 76.6 billion South Korean won; and 15–19 years, 107.3 billion South Korean won). The total budget for the next five years for children and adolescents aged <19 years was estimated at 946.4 billion South Korean won. Likewise, the budget for children aged <12 years during the first year of the coverage was estimated at 63.9 billion South Korean won (5–9 years, 17.9 billion South Korean won and 10–12 years, 46 billion South Korean won), and the total budget for the next five years was estimated at 315.9 billion South Korean won. CONCLUSIONS: Government healthcare plans should be established based on treatment needs and financial estimations. All the items in the NHIS, including the light-curing composite resin filling, should be considered based on their contribution to oral health promotion. Furthermore, in the long term, the coverage for preventive health services should be included in the health insurance.
Adolescent ; Budgets ; Child ; Composite Resins ; Delivery of Health Care ; Dental Caries ; Fees and Charges ; Humans ; Insurance, Health ; National Health Programs ; Oral Health ; Preventive Health Services ; Tooth

OBJECTIVETo analyze the dental care utilization and expenditure of residents in Beijing, and to provide some basis on the policy of oral health insurance system.

METHODSA cross-sectional survey was conducted among 1,517 subjects (urban area) and 1,878 subjects (rural area) of all age groups in Beijing selected by stratified, clustering, random sampling. The data of oral health care utilization and expenditure were collected in their home.

RESULTSThe number of the people who visited a dentist in a year were low both in urban area and in rural area, but the expenditure for oral health care per visit were quite high. The value of utilization of dental care in rural residents was 1/3 of that in urban residents, while the value of expenditure in rural people was about 1/2 of that in urban people. 2.07% incomes of rural residents were used for dental care per year, the corresponding value of urban residents was 1.77%. There was significant difference on the expenditure among those with different demographic, socio-economic backgrounds.

CONCLUSIONSThe expenditure for oral health care was high in Beijing, which accounted for quite a lot in average incomes per year. The burden of expenditure for dental care on rural residents was heavier than that on urban residents. The level of expenditure for dental care could provide some references for oral health insurance system in Beijing.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; Dental Health Services ; economics ; statistics & numerical data ; Fees, Dental ; Female ; Health Services Accessibility ; statistics & numerical data ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Insurance, Dental ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Rural Health Services ; statistics & numerical data ; Urban Health Services ; statistics & numerical data

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine whether increasing the Ti6Al4V surface oxide negative charge through heat (600degrees C) or radiofrequency plasma glow discharge (RFGD) pretreatment, with or without a subsequent coating with fibronectin, stimulated osteoblast gene marker expression in the MC3T3 osteoprogenitor cell line. METHODS: Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to measure changes over time in the mRNA levels for osteoblast gene markers, including alkaline phosphatase, bone sialoprotein, collagen type I (alpha1), osteocalcin, osteopontin and parathyroid hormone-related peptide (PTH-rP), and the osteoblast precursor genes Runx2 and osterix. RESULTS: Osteoprogenitors began to differentiate earlier on disks that were pretreated with heat or RFGD. The pretreatments increased gene marker expression in the absence of a fibronectin coating. However, pretreatments increased osteoblast gene expression for fibronectin-coated disks more than uncoated disks, suggesting a surface oxide-mediated specific enhancement of fibronectin's bioactivity. Heat pretreatment had greater effects on the mRNA expression of genes for PTH-rP, alkaline phosphatase and osteocalcin while RFGD pretreatment had greater effects on osteopontin and bone sialoprotein gene expression. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that heat and RFGD pretreatments of the Ti6Al4V surface oxide stimulated osteoblast differentiation through an enhancement of (a) coated fibronectin's bioactivity and (b) the bioactivities of other serum or matrix proteins. The quantitative differences in the effects of the two pretreatments on osteoblast gene marker expression may have arisen from the unique physico-chemical characteristics of each resultant oxide surface. Therefore, engineering the Ti6Al4V surface oxide to become more negatively charged can be used to accelerate osteoblast differentiation through fibronectin-dependent and independent mechanisms.
Alkaline Phosphatase ; Alloys ; Cell Differentiation ; Cell Line ; Collagen Type I ; Dental Implants ; Fees and Charges ; Fibronectins ; Gene Expression ; Hot Temperature ; Integrin alpha5beta1 ; Integrin-Binding Sialoprotein ; Osteoblasts ; Osteocalcin ; Osteopontin ; Parathyroid Hormone-Related Protein ; Plasma ; Proteins ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; RNA, Messenger ; Titanium