Child Dental Benefits Schedule Subsidised Existing Utilisation of Dental Care over Addressing Unmet Needs
Table 2
Distribution of Child Dental Benefit Schedule use and claims in the four years postimplementation amongst eligible children stratified by Priority Populations.
Any CDBS claims
Count of CDBS claims
Total benefit paid
No
Yes
value
Mean (SD)
Mean (SD)
n = 2970
n = 2055
n (%)
n (%)
Cohort
Birth
1501 (55.4)
1208 (44.6)
<0.001
7.8 (5.3)
486 (346)
Kindergarten
1469 (63.4)
847 (36.6)
7.9 (5.1)
511 (338)
Number of parent-reported dental visits three waves pre-CDBS
None
374 (58.3)
268 (41.7)
0.312
7.4 (5.2)
461 (332)
One
706 (58.2)
508 (41.8)
7.7 (4.7)
500 (322)
Two
930 (58.9)
650 (41.1)
7.9 (5.2)
499 (345)
Three
779 (61.5)
488 (38.5)
8.2 (5.6)
517 (371)
Uncertain
181 (59.1)
141 (43.8)
7.3 (4.9)
467 (316)
Indigenous status
Non-Indigenous
2883 (59.2)
1991 (40.8)
0.656
7.9 (5.2)
499 (344)
Indigenous
86 (57.3)
64 (42.7)
6.5 (4.5)
418 (293)
Weekly household income⸸
Q1
774 (46.0)
908 (54.0)
<0.001
8.2 (5.5)
527 (359)
Q2
999 (58.5)
708 (41.5)
7.8 (5.0)
493 (331)
Q3
1197 (77.5)
347 (22.5)
7.1 (4.9)
445 (315)
Q4‡
0 (0.0)
92 (100.0)
6.5 (4.6)
416 (321)
Remoteness area (ABS)
Major cities
1838 (62.1)
1124 (37.9)
<0.001
8.3 (5.3)
526 (352)
Inner regional
692 (53.3)
607 (46.7)
7.4 (5.1)
475 (337)
Outer regional
383 (56.3)
297 (43.7)
6.8 (4.7)
438 (310)
Remote and very remote
57 (67.9)
27 (32.1)
6.0 (4.1)
398 (293)
Parent-reported medical condition/s
No
2761 (58.9)
1930 (41.1)
0.568
7.8 (5.2)
499 (345)
Yes
142 (57.0)
107 (43.0)
7.5 (4.8)
463 (303)
⸸Continuous variable weekly household income estimates fixed to quartiles; Q1 = $1435, Q2 = $2201, Q3 = $3133, and Q4 = 5485. ‡For children who had CDBS claims in the Medicare database, the 95th percentile for household income were determined and used as the income cutoff for eligibility. n = 5025.
