Dental Care for Asylum-Seekers in Germany: A Retrospective Hospital-Based Study

Anna Freiberg, Andreas Wienke, Lena Bauer, Andreas Niedermaier and Amand Führer
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Anna Freiberg: Interdisciplinary Center for Health Sciences, Institute for Medical Epidemiology, Biometrics and Informatics (IMEBI), Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Magdeburger Straße 8, 06112 Halle (Saale), Germany
Andreas Wienke: Interdisciplinary Center for Health Sciences, Institute for Medical Epidemiology, Biometrics and Informatics (IMEBI), Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Magdeburger Straße 8, 06112 Halle (Saale), Germany
Lena Bauer: Interdisciplinary Center for Health Sciences, Institute for Medical Epidemiology, Biometrics and Informatics (IMEBI), Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Magdeburger Straße 8, 06112 Halle (Saale), Germany
Andreas Niedermaier: Interdisciplinary Center for Health Sciences, Institute for Medical Epidemiology, Biometrics and Informatics (IMEBI), Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Magdeburger Straße 8, 06112 Halle (Saale), Germany
Amand Führer: Interdisciplinary Center for Health Sciences, Institute for Medical Epidemiology, Biometrics and Informatics (IMEBI), Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Magdeburger Straße 8, 06112 Halle (Saale), Germany

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 8, 1-13

Abstract: Background: The growing immigration to Germany led to more patients whose medical needs are divergent from those of the domestic population. In the field of dental health care there is a debate about how well the German health system is able to meet the resulting challenges. Data on asylum-seekers’ dental health is scarce. This work is intended to reduce this data gap. Methods: We conducted this retrospective observational study in Halle (Saale), Germany. We included all persons who were registered with the social welfare office (SWO) in 2015 and received dental treatments. From the medical records, we derived information such as complaints, diagnoses, and treatments. Results: Out of 4107 asylum-seekers, the SWO received a bill for 568 people. On average, there were 1.44 treatment cases (95%-CI: 1.34–1.55) and 2.53 contacts with the dentist per patient (95%-CI: 2.33–2.74). Among those, the majority went to the dentist because of localized (43.2%, 95%-CI: 38.7–47.7) and non-localized pain (32.0%, 95%-CI: 27.8–36.2). The most widespread diagnosis was caries ( n = 469, 98.7%, 95%-CI: 97.7–99.7). Conclusion: The utilization of dental care is lower among asylum-seekers than among regularly insured patients. We assume that the low prevalence rates in our data indicate existing access barriers to the German health care system.

Keywords: secondary data analysis; asylum seekers; dental health care utilization; oral health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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