Table 4.

A comparison of 2000 and 2016: proportions of respondents visiting dental care providers (n = 14,700).

RUCC CATEGORY	TYPE OF PROVIDER
	GENERAL DENTISTS (%)			DENTAL HYGIENISTS (%)			ORAL SURGEONS (%)
	2000	2016	Relative Change	2000	2016	Relative Change	2000	2016	Relative Change
1	94.7	92.4	−2.4†	42.8	55.6	29.7‡	4.9	5.0	1.6
2	94.7	91.7	−3.2§	46.0	60.4	31.4§	5.6	5.8	3.4
3	94.5	91.6	−3.2	50.6	69.5	37.4§	6.3	4.2	−33.9
4	95.7	88.8	−7.2§	48.1	62.5	29.9	3.6	3.4	−5.8
5	95.3	96.0	0.8	46.5	53.4	14.7	5.7	1.1	−80.8§
6	92.8	92.1	−0.7	36.0	54.8	52.0	3.0	5.7	91.8
7	93.4	95.7	2.5	46.1	39.8	−13.6	4.7	1.3	−73.1§
P	.935	.716		.720	.015		.428	.021

Rural-Urban Continuum Code (RUCC) categories are defined as 1: metropolitan area with ≥ 1 million population, 2: metropolitan area with 250,000-1 million population, 3: metropolitan area with < 250,000 population, 4: nonmetropolitan area with urban population 2,500-19,999 adjacent, 5: nonmetropolitan area with urban population ≥ 20,000 not adjacent, 6: nonmetropolitan area with urban population 2,500-19,999 adjacent, 7: nonmetropolitan area with urban population 2,500-19,999 not adjacent, 8: nonmetropolitan area with < 2,500 urban population adjacent, 9: nonmetropolitan area with < 2,500 urban population not adjacent. (Category 6 includes RUCC categories 6 and 8, and category 7 includes RUCC categories 7 and 9.) P values indicate significance test values for comparison between RUCC categories.

^†P < .01.

^‡P < .001.

^§P < .05.