Children’s Dental Sealant Use and Caries Prevalence Affected by National Health Insurance Policy Change: Evidence from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2007–2015)

Minsung Sohn, Sujin Park, Sungwon Lim and Hee-Jung Park
Additional contact information
Minsung Sohn: Department of Health and Care Administration, The Cyber University of Korea, 106 Bukchon-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul 03051, Korea
Sujin Park: Division of Hospital Management Support, Seoul Health Foundation, 31 Maebongsan-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul 03909, Korea
Sungwon Lim: School of Nursing, University of Washington, Health Sciences Building, Room T-507, 1959 NE Pacific Street, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
Hee-Jung Park: Department of Dental Hygiene, College of Health Science, Kangwon National University, 346 Hwangjo-gil, Dogye-up, Samcheok-si, Gangwon-do 25945, Korea

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 15, 1-12

Abstract: We evaluated the effect of the National Health Insurance (NHI) policy including dental sealant on changes in the prevalence of sealant and caries, and examined how NHI affected sealant utilization and untreated caries in children from diverse income groups in South Korea. We used a multivariate logistic regression analysis to explore the effects of three stages of dental sealant policy (pre-policy: 2007–2009, first post-policy: 2010–2012, and second post-policy: 2013–2015) on the prevalence of dental sealant and untreated caries. Participant data ( N = 8161, aged 6–14 years) were derived from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2007–2015). We also conducted subgroup analysis to determine the effects of the NHI policy on dental sealant and untreated caries by income level. Implementation of dental insurance coverage was associated with higher likelihood of using dental sealant (odds ratio (OR) = 1.39 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.18–1.63) for the first period and OR = 1.58 (95% CI: 1.33–1.87) for the second period) and lower odds of having untreated caries (OR = 0.79 (95% CI: 0.64–0.98) for the first period and OR = 0.65 (95% CI: 0.51–0.83) for the second period) after controlling for covariates. Results revealed that there was a greater prevalence of dental sealant and a lower prevalence of untreated caries in both middle- and low-income households compared to high-income households. The higher prevalence of dental sealant and lower untreated caries after the policy implementation. Moreover, we demonstrated children from low-or middle-income households were more associated with increasing dental sealant use and a declining prevalence of caries.

Keywords: dental insurance; dental health services; health policy; pit and fissure sealants (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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