Table 2.

Multinomial logistic estimates

	Odds Ratio Point Estimates b
Population Characteristic	Preventive Dental Care vs. No Dental Care	Preventive Dental Care vs. Only Non-Preventive Care	Only Non-Preventive Dental Care vs. No Dental Care
Intercept	5.46**	8.65**	0.63**
Age less than 65	1.14	0.84	1.35*
65 to 69	0.98	1.08	0.90
70 to 74	0.94	1.01	0.93
75 to 79	1.18*	1.20	0.98
80 and older	(1.00)	(1.00)	(1.00)
Male	0.72**	0.72**	1.00
Female	(1.00)	(1.00)	(1.00)
Black non-Hispanic	0.32**	0.38**	0.84
Hispanic	0.74*	0.55**	1.35*
Other non-Hispanic	0.62**	0.63*	1.00
White non-Hispanic	(1.00)	(1.00)	(1.00)
Person income < $10,000	0.19**	0.40**	0.46**
$10,000–20,000	0.27**	0.50**	0.55**
$20,000–35,000	0.49**	0.71**	0.69**
Over $35,000	(1.00)	(1.00)	(1.00)
Some or no high school	0.21**	0.50**	0.42**
High school graduate	0.49**	0.74**	0.66**
College graduate	(1.00)	(1.00)	(1.00)
Widowed, divorced	0.85	1.01	0.85
Never married	1.32*	1.63*	0.81
Married	(1.00)	(1.00)	(1.00)
Household size one	1.46**	1.29	1.13
Size two	1.31**	1.27	1.03
Size three or more	(1.00)	(1.00)	(1.00)
Has teeth problems eating solid food	0.69**	0.35**	1.93**
Does not have problems	(1.00)	(1.00)	(1.00)
Health status fair/poor	0.74**	0.80	0.92
Good	0.95	0.84	0.94
Excellent/very good	(1.00)	(1.00)	(1.00)
Three or more physical limitations a	0.71**	0.78	0.91
Two	0.90	0.83	1.09
One	1.03	0.99	1.05
None	(1.00)	(1.00)	(1.00)
Current smoker	0.44**	0.61**	0.71*
Former smoker	0.86*	0.91	0.94
Never smoker	(1.00)	(1.00)	(1.00)
Part year community resident	0.34**	0.83	0.41**
Full year	(1.00)	(1.00)	(1.00)

Source: 2002 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey, community-based beneficiaries.

Note: The base case for the equation in the second and fourth columns is beneficiaries who did not visit the dentist during the year. The base case for the equation in the third column is beneficiaries who had only non-preventive dental care. The sample consists of 9,760 observations and excludes 822 persons with missing values of any independent variable from the initial analytic sample.

^*Indicates significant at the .05 level.

^**Indicates significant at the .01 level.

Psuedo-R² = 0.13.

^aIncludes some or a lot of difficulty stooping/crouching/kneeling, lifting/carrying 10 pounds, extending arms above shoulders, writing/handling object, and walking one quarter mile or two to three blocks.

^bOdds Ratio Point Estimate in second and fourth columns = estimate of [Probability of preventive dental visit (or only non-preventive dental care)/Probability of no dental care] for persons with row characteristic divided by [Probability of preventive dental visit (or only non-preventive care)/Probability of no dental care] for omitted characteristic from a multinomial logistic equation with beneficiaries without dental care as the reference group. Estimate in third column = estimate of [Probability of preventive dental visit/Probability of only non-preventive dental care] for persons with row characteristic divided by [Probability of preventive dental visit/Probability of only non-preventive dental care] for omitted characteristic from a similar multinomial logistic equation except with beneficiaries with only non-preventive dental care as the reference group.