Characteristics of Refugee Children Receiving Dental Care in the State of Washington

Abstract

Purpose: Investigate characteristics of refugee children who received oral health care and determine factors associated with dental utilization. Methods: Our population included refugees (≤ 21 years old) resettled in WA in 2015. We analyzed Medicaid data collected by three State Agencies including demographics (age, sex, country of origin, races, language spoken), disabled status, dates of dental encounter, dental visits (with relevant Medicaid dental codes). Descriptive analyses and ANOVA were performed to summarize different dental services utilized and to check if utilization differed across groups respectively with critical values at 5%. Results: Of 1114 children, 870 received dental care. Majority were males (55.57%) with 13 to 20 years (37.34%) being the largest group. About a third was white (33.12%), black (18.85%), Pacific Islander (6.91%), Asian (2.78%), and other (15.8%). Only 1.44% of the children had disabled status. Children of 7-12 years of age had most dental utilization overall (p = 0.0144) but younger children had more preventative (p <0.0001) and older children had more restorative visits (p < 0.0001). Females had more overall (p < 0.0001) and restorative visits (p < 0.0001). Children with disabled status had more dental visits (p < 0.0001) but less restorative visits than those without such status (p < 0.0001). Different utilizations from different races, countries of origins and languages spoken were noticed (not statistically significant). Conclusions: One in five refugee children did not utilize any dental service within the first year of arrival. Age, sex and disability status were relevant characteristics associated with dental utilization. Further measures should be implemented to maximize access in this population