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Comparing the BDA case mix tool and simplified case mix tool for stratification of public dental patients with disabilities in South Australia

British Dental Journal (2023)Cite this article

Abstract

Introduction All individuals have a right to equal access to oral healthcare. Finding a dental practitioner experienced in managing individuals with special needs is a commonly reported barrier to accessing oral healthcare for people with disabilities.

Aim The aim of this study was to determine the applicability of the British Dental Association (BDA) case mix tool (CMT) and the simplified case mix tool (sCMT) in an Australian context.

Methods A retrospective analysis of 131 dental records for patients on recall at the Special Needs Unit, Adelaide Dental Hospital compared the specialist-performed complexity stratification with results obtained using the BDA CMT and sCMT by a general dentist.

Results The BDA CMT demonstrated substantial agreement with the specialist-performed complexity stratification and had a higher reliability than the sCMT.

Conclusions The BDA CMT may be suitable for use in the Australian context by general dental practitioners to identify the level of complexity of an individual with special needs, so as to ensure their oral healthcare needs are matched to a dental practitioner with the required skills and experience.

Key points

  • Demonstrates the BDA case mix tool (CMT) and simplified case mix tool (sCMT) are able to replicate the patient complexity stratification performed by a very experienced specialist in special needs dentistry in South Australia with moderate to substantial agreement.

  • Highlights the suitability of the BDA CMT application in a hub-and-spoke model oral healthcare system to enable oral healthcare provision by an appropriately experienced dental practitioner to identify the complexity of patients with a disability requiring dental care.

  • Findings suggest that the BDA CMT and sCMT are useful stratification tools which can be used by community-based general dentists to identify the complexity of patients with special needs requiring dental care.

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Acknowledgements

To the South Australian Dental Service for granting permission to conduct this research in the Special Needs Unit of the Adelaide Dental Hospital.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Adelaide Dental School, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Adelaide, Australia

    Trudy Y. H. Lin

  2. Special Needs Unit, Adelaide Dental Hospital, SA Dental, South Australia, Australia

    Mark E. I. Gryst

  3. Adelaide Health Technology Assessment, School of Public Health, University of Adelaide, Australia

    Suzanne M. Edwards

  4. Adelaide Dental School, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Adelaide, Australia; Special Needs Unit, Adelaide Dental Hospital, SA Dental, South Australia, Australia

    Sharon A. C. Liberali

Authors
  1. Trudy Y. H. Lin
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  2. Mark E. I. Gryst
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  3. Suzanne M. Edwards
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  4. Sharon A. C. Liberali
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Contributions

Trudy Y. H. Lin was involved in design and coordination of the study, data collection and interpretation, statistical analysis, and writing of the manuscript as principal investigator; Sharon A. C. Liberali was involved in conception, design and coordination of the study, data interpretation, statistical analysis, and critical review of the manuscript as principal supervisor; Mark E. I. Gryst was involved in the research subject group allocation, data interpretation, and review of the manuscript as associate supervisor; and Suzanne M. Edwards was involved in the statistical analysis and review of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Trudy Y. H. Lin.

Ethics declarations

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Ethics approval was obtained from the Central Adelaide Local Health Network Human Research Ethics Committee and the Human Research Ethics Committee of the University of Adelaide. Consent was not required for this retrospective analysis.

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Lin, T., Gryst, M., Edwards, S. et al. Comparing the BDA case mix tool and simplified case mix tool for stratification of public dental patients with disabilities in South Australia. Br Dent J (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41415-023-5576-4

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