A dental program for Head Start children in New York City: a retrospective study of utilization and costs.

Abstract

During 1967, North-Eastern Dispensary, a nonprofit dental clinic in New York City, provided comprehensive dental services for 86.5 per cent of 362 preschool Head Start children. All were eligible for the New York State Medical Assistance Program; all lived in neighborhoods where about 97 per cent of the population was Negro; most traveled about five miles to reach the clinic. The mean df per child was 2.2; 98.1 per cent of the carious teeth required treatment, 50.4 per cent of the children were caries-free. The Medical Assistance Program reimbursed the clinic on a fee-for-visit basis. The mean reimbursement per child was $19.38. This cost would have been $34.15 had private dentists provided similar services. Projections of utilization and costs are made to an estimated 100,000 preschool poverty children in the city. It is suggested that nonprofit dental clinics such as the one described be considered additional delivery systems for dental care.