Correlation between the beverage serving activities and the dental use of health care resources of National Health Insurance for common oral diseases

Feng-Chou Cheng; Ming-Chung Lee; Ling-Hsia Wang; Wen-Juain Lin; Tzu-Chiang Lin; Shiang-Yao Liu; Chun-Pin Chiang

doi:10.1016/j.jds.2022.06.004

Correlation between the beverage serving activities and the dental use of health care resources of National Health Insurance for common oral diseases

J Dent Sci. 2022 Oct;17(4):1510-1519. doi: 10.1016/j.jds.2022.06.004. Epub 2022 Jun 18.

Authors

Feng-Chou Cheng^{1

2}, Ming-Chung Lee¹, Ling-Hsia Wang³, Wen-Juain Lin⁴, Tzu-Chiang Lin⁵, Shiang-Yao Liu^{1

6}, Chun-Pin Chiang^{7

8

9}

Affiliations

¹ School of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan.
² Science Education Center, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan.
³ Center for the Literature and Art, Hsin Sheng Junior College of Medical Care and Management, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
⁴ Taipei First Girls High School, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁵ Center for the Liberal Arts, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
⁶ Graduate Institute of Science Education, College of Science, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁷ Department of Dentistry, National Taiwan University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁸ Graduate Institute of Oral Biology, School of Dentistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁹ Department of Dentistry, Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Hualien, Taiwan.

Abstract

Background/purpose: : Taiwanese get use to drinking hand-shaken beverages. However, excessive sugar intake is strongly associated with the occurrence of dental caries. This study evaluated the correlation between the beverage serving activities and the dental use of National Health Insurance (NHI) for common oral diseases in 2016.

Materials and methods: Data on the population, the beverage serving activities, and the dental records of NHI were obtained from the related websites of government. These data were divided by cities and counties to investigate the beverage serving activities and the dental use of NHI for common oral diseases in 2016.

Results: In Taiwan, the value of beverage consumption per person had a moderate to high positive correlation with the dental use rate, the number of out-patient visits per 1,000 people, and the medical expenses per person for common oral diseases. For dental caries, diseases of pulp & periapical tissues, and gingivitis & periodontal diseases, their Pearson's r values were 0.52-0.61, 0.18-0.40, and 0.58-0.65, respectively. These results indicate that the higher the beverage consumption per capita, the higher the dental use per capita.

Conclusion: There is a long-term benefit for oral health and systemic health through reducing or avoiding unnecessary excessive sugar intake. Therefore, from a cost-effectiveness viewpoint, Taiwan government should develop a better oral health care policy including a health education strategy of appropriate sugar intake to prevent dental caries and other non-communicable diseases in Taiwanese people.

Keywords: Hand-shaken beverages; dental caries; dental use; excessive sugar intake; national health insurance.