Emergency dental visits and no-shows among children and adolescents in public oral health service in Finland: a retrospective evaluation

OBJECTIVE: To find out the occurrence of emergency visits and compare the co-existence of emergency visits and dental no-shows among children and adolescents in public oral health services in Helsinki, Finland. METHODS: This was a register-based retrospective follow-up study. The data were collected from electronic health information register systems, Effica and Lifecare, of under-18-year-olds who attended public oral health care provided by the City of Helsinki during 2006-2020. The information collected for this study was patients' age, sex, actualised, missing and emergency dental visits, as well as all actualised visits' oral examination details and preventive, restorative and orthodontic treatment procedures (n = 200,790). Regression models were used to assess odds ratios (OR) and Rate ratios (RR). RESULTS: The overall occurrence of emergency dental visits was 29.2%. It was 21.9% among individuals who had no dental no-shows and 43.7% among those who had at least one or more no-shows. No-shows were linked to 24% higher odds of emergency visits in the fully adjusted model (OR = 1.24, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.21-1.27, p < 0.001). The finding remained significant, with nearly a fivefold increase in odds among individuals receiving both orthodontic and restorative treatment (G4) (OR = 4.79, 95% CI: 4.62-4.96, p < 0.001) than among those receiving check-ups and preventive visits (G1) in the fully adjusted model. Temporal analysis showed that 44.5% of individuals had a no-show preceding their first emergency visit, while 55.5% had an emergency visit prior to their first no-show. CONCLUSIONS: Dental no-shows and emergency dental visits were linked, and their temporal pattern was bidirectional.