ArticleJournal of public health dentistry2026
Age at First Dental Visit of Preschool Children Utilizing Public Sector Dental Services in Southeast Queensland, Australia: A Retrospective Cohort Study.
Article in Journal of public health dentistry, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Reasons for First Dental Visit Among Infants and Toddlers in Bucharest, Romania-A Cross-Sectional Study.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Age at First Dental Visit of Preschool Children Utilizing Public Sector Dental Services in Southeast Queensland, Australia: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Journal of public health dentistry · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesThis retrospective cohort study describes public dental service use among children aged 0-4 years attending public sector oral health services in Metro North and Metro South Hospital and Health Services, Southeast Queensland. This study analyzes age and reason for first dental visits, and whether access pathways, including Lift the Lip (LtL), influence access for key sociodemographic groups.
methodsWe analyzed electronic oral health records for 41,614 children with a first dental visit between January 2014 and December 2022. Age at first visit and reason for attendance were summarized descriptively. Early attendance (≤ 12 and ≤ 24 months) was compared across LtL and non-LtL pathways and risk groups using chi-square tests with risk differences and risk ratios.
resultsThe mean age at first visit was 37.7 months (SD 17.0). Overall, 11% of children attended by 12 months and 27% by 24 months, and 83% first presented for general care. LtL-referred children were more likely to attend by 12 (27.7% vs. 4.7%) and 24 months (66.7% vs. 12.4%) than non-LtL children. Early attendance remained lower for Indigenous children, those living with greater disadvantage, and Child Dental Benefits Schedule-eligible children, and higher for children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Attendance by 12 months increased after 2016, from 5.2% to 12.0%.
conclusionFew children accessed public dental care by the recommended age of first visit. While LtL substantially improved early attendance, equity gaps persisted, highlighting the need to strengthen early-referral pathways and parent/carer awareness of the recommended timing for a first dental visit.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.