The Effect of Medicaid on Dental Care of Poor Adults: Evidence from the Oregon Health Insurance Experiment.

<bold>Objective: </bold>To evaluate the effect of Medicaid coverage on dental care outcomes, a major health concern for low-income populations.<bold>Data Sources: </bold>Primary and secondary data on health care use and outcomes for participants in Oregon's 2008 Medicaid lottery.<bold>Study Design: </bold>We used the lottery's random selection to gauge the causal effects of Medicaid on dental care needs, medication, and emergency department visits for dental care.<bold>Data Collection: </bold>Data were collected for lottery participants over 2 years, including mail surveys (N = 23,777) and in-person questionnaires (N = 12,229). Emergency department (ED) records were matched to lottery participants in Portland (N = 24,646).<bold>Principal Findings: </bold>Medicaid coverage significantly reduced the share of respondents who reported needing dental care (-9.8 percentage points, p < .001) or having unmet dental care needs (-13.5 percentage points, p < 0.001). Medicaid doubled the share visiting the ED for dental care (+2.6 percentage points, p = .003) and the use of anti-infective medications often prescribed for dental care, but it had no detectable effect on uncovered dental care or out-of-pocket spending.<bold>Conclusions: </bold>Expansion of Medicaid covering emergency dental care substantially reduced unmet need for dental care, increasing ED dental visits and medication use, while not changing patient use of uncovered dental services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]