In 1987, the National Medical Expenditure Survey (NMES) II was conducted by the Center for General Health Services Intramural Research, Agency for Health Care Policy and Research. The survey provides extensive information on health expenditures by or on behalf of American families and individuals, the financing of these expenditures, and each person's use of services during the period from January 1 to December 31, 1987. The NMES II Household Survey is based on a national probability sample of the civilian, noninstitutionalized population living in the community. The sample is designed to provide a larger representation of population groups of special policy interest to the Federal Government than would have been obtained from a random sample. These groups include poor and low income families, the elderly, the functionally impaired, and black and Hispanic minorities. As part of NMES II, information was collected on the type of dental services provided, total expense, and sources of payment for all dental services. This project will use the data to examine several issues related to dental services and oral epidemiology, such as: 1) overall dental utilization and expenditure patterns; 2) geographic variation in practice patterns for dental services; 3) demographic and socioeconomic variation is use of dental services; 4) associations between the use of dental services and other health care services; 5) relationship between the use of dental services and reported oral and general health status; 6) use of dental services by Native Americans and Alaska Natives; 7) use of dental services and health related behaviors, including care seeking and preventive care; 8) usual source of medical and dental care and reasons for lack of a usual source of dental care; and 9) health insurance status and use of dental services.
