A Markovian model for evaluating dental care programs

A Markov model is suggested as a means of evaluating dental care programs. Four mutually exclusive states of dental care are defined as Markovian states. These are episodic, initial, maintenance and nonuse. Records for all patients entering a university teaching clinic (n = 578) over a 12-month period were examined and classified in one of the states of care at entry into the clinic and at 1-year intervals from the date of entry for 3 years. An analysis of the findings indicated that the Markov model did fit reasonably well and provided a good approximation of the empirical data.