Public Periodontal Screening Increases Subsequent Regular Dental Visits: The Life Study.

Introduction: A public oral health screening, periodontal disease screening, has been implemented in Japan, but it remains unclear whether screening encourages subsequent regular dental visits. This study aimed to examine whether people who underwent periodontal disease screening were more likely to regularly visit dentists after undergoing the screening than before using a difference-in-differences (DID) approach.

Methods: This study used health care claims data of municipality residents who underwent periodontal disease screening in 2017 or 2018. For each screening recipient, 4 individuals were extracted from those who did not undergo screening as controls. In the DID analysis, we assessed the change in the proportion of dentist visits at least once every 180 d after undergoing screening.

Results: A total of 4,050 participants were included in the analysis. The proportion of participants visiting dentists was consistent throughout the study period (approximately 45%) among the participants who did not undergo the screening. However, among the participants who underwent the screening, while the proportion who visited dentists was consistent before screening (approximately 60%), the proportion was higher after screening (1-180 d after, 81.2%). DID analysis indicated that the proportion increased by 12.9% after the screening. In addition, the age-subgroup DID estimates were higher in the younger population (aged 20-35 y, 13.9%; 40-55 y, 12.8%; 60 y, 12.6%).

Conclusions: Among people who underwent periodontal disease screening, a higher proportion visited dentists after undergoing the screening than before, suggesting that periodontal disease screening was associated with an increase in subsequent regular dental visits.

Knowledge transfer statement: Our results provide evidence that a public oral health screening could increase regular dental visits, which has the potential to improve and maintain people's oral health, especially in the younger population.