Adults without children are far less likely to make and keep a dental appointment than are parents. But even those with kids drag the young ones to the dentist far more often than they drag themselves there.
These are among the findings of a survey by Cigna, which looked at the dental care habits of people with health and dental insurance coverage. What the study revealed was lots of lip service to good dental health, but an overall lack of commitment to do as the dentist says and come in at least twice a year for a checkup.
Those who aren't going — even when preventative care measures are fully covered by their insurance — pay a price, the survey found. By the time someone has moved into the 55-to-64-year-old category, less than a third of those who go to the dentist once a year or not at all say they have very good to excellent dental health.
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Here's the data:
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47 percent of adults without children said they went to the dentist at least once a year;
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68 percent of parents said they went at least once a year;
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85 percent of the children of parents in the survey went at least once a year;
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90 percent of those who don't take advantage of twice yearly dental checkups believe dental health is important to overall medical health, but they aren't making oral care a high priority;
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53 percent of individuals say their medical health is a critical priority while only a third say the same for their oral health;
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Individuals who said that their primary care physician discusses with them the importance of oral health are 50 percent more likely to go to the dentist at least annually than those whose doctors don't bring up the subject.
Why aren't folks going more often?
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40 percent said they don't go because they are experiencing no dental pain;
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36 percent said it was too expensive;
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27 percent said the dentist was "too painful;"
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23 percent said they experienced "emotional embarrassment" in the dental chair and so avoided going.
"Absence of pain does not mean absence of problems. It is important that we help individuals overcome the barriers to obtaining preventive dental care that the study identified. The longer the wait between dental visits, the more likely a problem will develop," said Miles Hall, Cigna dental's chief clinical director. "Often more complicated problems are more expensive to treat, leading to the very situation that consumers want to avoid."
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
