Continuity of dental treatment by users of Alberta's universal dental plan for the elderly

To evaluate the longitudinal utilization of Alberta's Extended Health Benefits dental plan for the elderly, its use over the preceding 13 years by patients over age 64, who had used the plan in 1991-92, was examined. Of these 96,596 patients, over half (56 per cent) were female and about two-thirds (68 per cent) received their dental care from a dentist only. However, for the older elderly and for those living outside Calgary and Edmonton, the percentage attending a denturist only or both a denturist and a dentist was greater. Only individuals over age 77, or about 20 per cent of plan participants in 1991-92, were eligible to use the plan over the entire 14-year period examined in this study. However, the regularity of previous annual utilization of the plan was high. About 60 per cent of 70-74 year olds had used the plan for five or more years, while close to 50 per cent of the 80-84 year olds--who were eligible to use the plan for the entire period of the study--had done so in eight or more of the previous 14 years. Despite varying plan eligibility according to patient age, the 96,596 patients who used the plan over the 14-year period made nearly 1.2-million patient visits, at which they received about 3.1-million dental services. The high continuity of annual usage demonstrates that this group is not under-utilizing dental services.