Table 1.

Linear regression models to evaluate independent relationships between each county-level factor and child-level dental utilization.

	β coefficient*	Robust standard error	Robust z value	P-value
Socioeconomic environment
Per capita income, $ (2005)	0.0053	0.0017	3.10	0.0019
Percent population in poverty (2005)	−0.0108	0.0030	−3.64	0.0003
Percent children ages 0 to 17 years in poverty (2005)	−0.0101	0.0022	−4.63	<0.0001
Unemployment rate for persons ages 16 and older (2005)	−0.0391	0.0136	−2.87	0.0042
Percent of persons under age 65 years without health insurance (2005)	0.0084	0.0045	1.85	0.0643
Percent of population on food assistance (2005)	−0.0139	0.0040	−3.46	0.0005
Percent of child population in Medicaid (2005)	−0.0031	0.0028	−1.11	0.2684
Health resource environment
County designated as a dental Health Professional Shortage Area (2004)				0.0252
No	Reference	–	–
Yes	−0.0486	0.0218	−2.24
Per capita family medicine physicians and pediatricians (2005)	0.0307	0.0290	1.06	0.2895
Per capita emergency department visits (2005)	−0.0615	0.0811	−0.76	0.4481
Rurality (2003)
Metropolitan	Reference	–	–	–
Urban adjacent to metropolitan	−0.0321	0.0226	−1.42	0.1553
Urban not adjacent to metropolitan	−0.0444	0.0336	−1.32	0.1862
Rural	−0.0223	0.0262	−0.85	0.3937

^*Adjusted for child-level predictor variables (age, gender, race/ethnicity, IDD status, chronic condition severity, sibling enrolled in Medicaid, caregiver enrolled in Medicaid, used preventive medical care).