Purpose: This study examined whether patients insured by a managed dental care plan receive lower quality dental hygiene care than those not enrolled in a managed dental care plan.
Methods: Questionnaire data were gathered from 193 dental hygienists in the Chicago, Illinois area. Managed care was measured by a questionnaire item that assessed the proportion of managed care patients treated by the subject; quality of dental hygiene care was measured by items that assessed the extent to which the subject performed each of 23 dental hygiene tasks.
Results: A factor analysis of the 23 items assessing the quality of dental hygiene care indicated four meaningful factors named: periodontal procedures, appointment time, visual examinations, and oral examinations. Measures based on these factors were the dependent variables in regression analysis that included managed care as the primary independent variable and demographic characteristics of the subjects and their practices as control variables. Managed care had a significant (p < .05) negative relationship with appointment time, but did not have a significant relationship with periodontal procedures, visual examinations, or oral examinations.
Conclusion: This study suggests that managed dental care program patients may have inadequate appointment time with a dental hygienist, which may affect whether they receive important services, such as oral health education. Dental hygienists in managed-care environments should be certain they are making effective use of the scheduled appointment time and procedures to ensure managed-care patients receive adequate time for dental hygiene care.