Survey of Louisiana General Dentists Regarding Age 1 Dental Visit

Objectives:The purpose of this survey was to determine the beliefs and practices of Louisiana general dentists regarding the child's first dental visit at age 1.

Methods:An 11 item survey was mailed to all general dentists who were members of the Louisiana Dental Association (LDA) in 2006. The survey covered practice demographics, practitioner demographics, familiarity with American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) guidelines on age 1 dental visit, source of knowledge of the guideline as well as belief and practice of the guideline.

Results:Four hundred ninety five (56%) usable surveys from the eight hundred eighty three total recipients were returned from 2 mailings. Fifty three percent of the general dentists surveyed were familiar with the recommendation of the AAPD which states that a child should have his or her first dental visit by age one. Only thirty percent of responders believe that a child's first dental visit should come before 2 years of age. A smaller percent (27%) reported accepting children less than 24 months into their practices. The most common response for not seeing children 0-23 months of age was that the practitioners prefer to refer these patients to pediatric dentists (40%). Bivariate logistic regression revealed that general dentists who are more recent graduates, younger, female and have knowledge of the current AAPD guideline are significantly more likely to accept patients who are 0-23 months old into their practices.

Conclusions:About half of the general dentists who were members of the LDA in 2006 and responded to the survey were aware of the AAPD age 1 dental visit recommendation. Yet, less 30% of Louisiana general dentists actually accepted patients younger than 24 months.