Dental Services Utilization by Rurality Among Privately Insured Children in the United States

The purpose of this study was to determine differences in dental services received between rural and urban residents in a national sample of children with private insurance. This was a retrospective study of deidentified claims data from a major national private insurer. Children younger than 18 years of age enrolled throughout 2018 and who had at least one visit to the dentist that year were included. Differences in the frequency of dental procedures received were determined by chi-square tests. Multilevel logistic regression was used to evaluate the effect of individual-level and ZIP Code-level covariates, including rurality, on the odds of receiving a preventive dental service or having a tooth extracted. A total of 603,064 children, with an average age of 10.2±4.4 (standard deviation) years, visited a dentist, and 6.52 percent lived in a rural area. In a multilevel logistic regression correcting for patient age, patient gender, ZIP Code average income, and dental provider density, rurality was positively associated with receiving a tooth extraction (odds ratio [OR] equals 1.06; P<0.001) and negatively associated with receiving a preventive service (OR equals 0.85; P<0.001). Female gender was a negative predictor of preventive services and a predictor of having a tooth extracted. Children living in rural areas had reduced rates of preventive dental care and higher rates of tooth extraction than their nonrural counterparts.