Retrospective Evaluation of Oral Health Services for Underserved Children in Clark County, Nevada

Disparities in utilization of oral health services have been shown to exist through epidemiological investigations and data analysis. Specifically, disparities exist for utilization of preventative dental care (PDC) and unmet dental need (UDN). The disparities in utilization of PDC and UDN are associated with demographic and insurance variables. To address the oral health disparities, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas-School of Dental Medicine (UNLV-SDM) was created to improve the health of the citizens of Nevada through innovative programs of oral healthcare services to the community. More recently, UNLV-SDM opened a pediatric dental residency training program to provide care directly to the underserved children in Nevada. To date, however, there has been no comprehensive analysis of the UNLV-SDM pediatric population to determine if the school is providing care to the needy and underserved children of this community. The purpose of this project is to determine if underserved children in Clark County, NV are utilizing the UNLV-SDM pediatric dental clinic. In order to facilitate the use of an existing database, containing pediatric patient demographic and insurance information, a UNLV Office of Research Integrity - Human Subjects Exemption (OPRS#1111-3975M - Retrospective Investigation of Pediatric Patient Demographics at UNLV-SDM ) was filed and approved on December 6, 2011