Association between pulp and periapical conditions and dental emergency visits involving pain relief: epidemiological profile and risk indicators in private practice in Australia

Aim: To assess the prevalence of dental emergency visits (DEV) involving pain relief and their relationship with socioeconomic and clinical factors in an Australian representative sample in the primary care setting. Methodology: Data on reason for visit and patient characteristics were collected from a representative random sample of Australian dentists in private practice surveyed in 2009-2010. Information regarding socioeconomic (gender, age, health insurance) and clinical factors (number of teeth, number of decayed teeth, diagnosis and reason for visit [DEV, check-up, other reasons not involving pain relief]) were retrieved from compiled questionnaires. Descriptive statistics were reported, and Poisson regression models were used to assess the association between socioeconomic and clinical factors and DEV. Prevalence ratio (PR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated. Results: A total of 1148 dentists responded (67%), resulting in records from 6504 patients. The overall prevalence of DEV was 20.8%. The unadjusted analysis, according to the reason of visit, revealed the following predictors for DEV: male gender (PR=1.18; 95% CI=1.08 - 1.29), age 18 - 64 years (PR=2.70; 95% CI=2.19 - 3.33) and over 65 years (PR=2.64, 95% CI=2.10 - 3.32), uninsured patients (PR=1.36; 95% CI=1.24-1.49), patients with