I’m happy to share with you that DDPA recently released its fifteenth annual preventive care study, the largest and longest running study of its kind. Delta Dental is committed to advancing oral health for all Americans by sharing this information. Through its analysis of key oral health care measures, the preventive care study provides invaluable insights into whether members are receiving the evidence-based, recommended preventive dental care that is vitally important to oral disease management and overall health.
Delta Dental analyzes the preventive dental care services utilized by Delta Dental commercial members across the country in an anonymized aggregate form, then publishes its findings in a study identifying trends in preventive and diagnostic care delivery. Delta Dental member companies use these findings to enhance and develop their disease management initiatives and identify populations with the highest risks of disease and, jointly, use them to develop initiatives driving measurable impact across the system.
Last year, DDPA introduced the Established Dental Home measure to capture the percentage of Delta Dental members of all ages that had an oral evaluation in the preceding 12-month period, and it also expanded the Utilization of Services measure, capturing utilization of any dental service and including members 19 and older.
Measurements show noteworthy changes in member company claims data from 2023 and 2024. Overall, it indicates steady improvement across most measures, with only a slight decline in the utilization of dental services by members 19 and older. This ongoing upward trend is encouraging. A noteworthy finding is the increase in the percentage of all children—especially those under the age of three—who received oral evaluations, reflective of initiatives to promote early prevention and lifelong oral health habits, a shared priority throughout the system of Delta Dental member companies.
This year’s study noted four positive observations: 76.9% of adults at risk for caries had at least one oral evaluation; the percentage of at-risk adults for caries has been slowly declining over time; the percentage of individuals with an established dental home increased across all age groups; and the number of members under age three receiving an oral evaluation increased by two percent.
Conversely, one of the benefits of this study is identifying areas that need research and intervention. Conclusions about improvements needed this year include these:
- Addressing the challenges for patients of all ages to receive the recommended preventive dental care, especially with older teens (age 15+) and younger children (under age three).
- Breaking down barriers for adults to receive preventive oral health care, especially in certain high-risk populations.
- Improving utilization of oral evaluations, particularly in young children ages zero to two.
- Increasing the percentage of dentists documenting caries risk for children.
There’s a wealth of information available in the DDPA 2025 Preventive Dental Care Study. It’s just one more way that Delta Dental, the nation’s oral health leader, demonstrates its commitment to closing dental care gaps and developing partnerships across the health care system to increase access to preventive dental care, because everyone deserves a healthy smile!
To read the report, click here; Delta Dental Preventive Dental Care Study.