A utilisation profile of publicly financed oral examinations in the Republic of Ireland

Aim: To develop a utilisation profile for oral examinations performed under the remit of publicly financed dental services in the Republic of Ireland as a proxy for the overall level of service use. Basic research design: Collation of data from multiple administrative datasets for 2018, and generation of an age-specific oral examination utilisation profile. Main outcome measure: Age-specific oral examination rates per 1,000 population. Results: A total of 1,163,399 publicly financed oral examinations were performed. Comparably low population-adjusted oral examination rates were observed in the 0-15, 16-24 and 75+ age cohorts. Conclusions: The National Oral Health Policy in Ireland aims to improve access to oral healthcare services across the life-course. Young children and older adults are highlighted as population subgroups with low levels of service eligibility and engagement, respectively. These results reinforce the need to focus on these age cohorts.