Potentially preventable dental care in operating rooms for children enrolled in Medicaid

In this study, the authors examined the prevalence and cost of care for children enrolled in Medicaid for potentially preventable dental conditions who receive surgical care in hospital operating rooms (ORs) or ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs).

The authors analyzed Medicaid data from 8 states to find cases in which children aged 1 to 20 years received surgical care in ORs or ASCs in 2010 and 2011 for potentially preventable diagnoses, as defined with diagnostic codes.

For 6 states with complete data, there were 26,373 cases in 2011 in which children received OR or ASC surgical care for potentially preventable conditions. These cases represent approximately 0.5% of all children enrolled in Medicaid in these states and approximately 1% of children enrolled in Medicaid who received any dental care. There were $68 million in total Medicaid payments for these cases, with an average of $2,581 per case. Diagnostic codes indicated that 98% of cases were related to treatment of dental caries. More than two-thirds of the cases (71%) were children aged 1 to 5 years.

Extrapolation to the United States suggests that approximately $450 million in additional expenditures occurred in 2011 because of OR or ASC surgical care for potentially preventable pediatric dental conditions, primarily related to early childhood caries.

Strategies to improve prevention of early childhood caries, including community- and family-based education, and to increase access to timely and early dental care for low-income children could reduce the burdens and costs of these dental problems.