Geographic patterns of dental service use in the Child Dental Benefits Schedule: 6 years of claims in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children

Abstract

ISSUE ADDRESSED: This article explores the geographic patterns of claims within the Australian Government's Child Dental Benefits Schedule (CDBS). BACKGROUND: The CDBS is a means-tested schedule implemented in 2014 to improve access to dental services for children. Under the schedule, eligible children receive funding to subsidise dental services. METHODS: This study used data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children and linked data from the Medicare universal healthcare system, to examine dental service use amongst a subset of children aged 10 and 14 years. Dental service items were classified using Two-step Cluster Analysis, and appointments were analysed using multinomial logist..