The Effects of the Expansion of Dental Care Coverage for the Elderly

Expanding dental care coverage for the elderly is globally recommended but not widely implemented due to its high costs and intangible benefits.

This study examined the impact of such an expansion in Korea using the imputation-based method proposed by Borusyak et al. We analyzed data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2007-2019) on dental service utilization and chewing ability among older adults.

The policy resulted in a 13.5% increase in partial denture use and a 60.5% increase in dental implants among those aged 65 and above. These changes corresponded with reductions in severe chewing difficulty by 23.3% and 13.0%, respectively. No significant changes were observed in full denture use. The price elasticity of demand for partial dentures and dental implants was estimated to be -0.19 and -0.86, respectively.

These findings underscore the critical role of affordability in enhancing the utilization of dental implants among the elderly and highlight the importance of appropriately expanding dental insurance coverage to improve oral health outcomes in this population.