Diabetes is a major public health challenge worldwide. Health service use among people with diabetes is increased due to preventive health services as well care due to development of complications. People with diabetes have increased risk of dental disease. Maintaining dental health is important to prevent complications among people with diabetes. This project involves evaluation of policy changes made to the Dental Treatment Services Scheme (DTSS) operated by the Health Service Executive (HSE), Ireland. It will be conducted using a natural experiment design and will investigate whether changes made to the DTSS operated by the HSE have made an impact on dental service use among patients with diabetes. The change scaled back services offered to patients under it to a dental exam, 2 fillings and extractions. Using data from the nationally representative cohort study, The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) we examine access to dental care among people with diabetes before and after th change. We will assess dental service use in wave 1 of TILDA and wave 2 of TILDA. We will compare dental service use before and after policy changes to determine if access was restricted following the policy change. This research is relevant to those treating individuals with diabetes or individuals diagnosed with diabetes as they are more likely to have poorer dental outcomes leading to tooth loss. The results could be used by healthcare professionals in the treatment of patients with diabetes and to inform policy makers in the provision of healthcare for diabetes paients.
