Preventable Hospital Admissions of Australians for Oral Health-related Conditions

Objectives: Potentially preventable hospital admissions are conditions that could be avoided for hospitalisation if a timely management and primary care had been provided. In 2015–16, in Australia there were nearly 680,000 potentially preventable hospitalisations. This represented about 6% of all hospital separations and nearly 2.7 million bed days nationally – equivalent to 9% of all public and private hospital bed days. The objective was to describe preventable hospital admissions for oral health-related conditions.
Methods: Preventable hospital admission data for every episode for patients who were admitted to hospital in Australia for an oral health related condition for the five years (2010-11 to 2014-15) was obtained from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare was analysed by age, residential area, length of stay in hospital, and funding source.

Results: There were 316,937 admissions to hospital for dental reasons during the five year time period. The number of hospital admissions for oral health related conditions did not vary significantly between the five years (Between 61,003 to 64,817 per year). Oral health-related conditions were the third biggest reason for preventable hospital admissions in Australia. More than half were for dental caries (52.6%), and were privately funded (64.6%) by the user. The majority (86.2%) were from urban areas, had a same day flag (87.2%) and the almost all (99.1%) had a stay of less than one day. Under half (43.4%) were children under the age of 20 years, and one third (33.2%) were under 10 years of age.
Conclusions: A high proportion of preventable hospital admissions in Australia were for oral health-related conditions among the population, with the proportion being the highest for young children. The stays were usually for less than one day. Hospitalisations for oral health-related conditions among Australians place a considerable burden on the health system.