Description

For all dental visits (EVENTYPE = 5), DENTYPE indicates if the person saw another type of dental professional. Please refer to the comparability tab for how the dental professionals included in "other" changes over time.

DENTYPE is one of a set of dental visit variables reporting the type of dental provider seen, the dental services received, and the total expenditures overall and by payment source associated with each dental visit. For more information about the dental visit variables, please refer to the DENTGEN variable description.

Comparability

DENTYPE is not comparable between the 1996-2016 and 2017-forward samples due to changes in the types of professionals included in the residual "other" category. The dental visit questions changed substantially in 2017. Prior to 2017, respondents were explicitly asked whether they had seen a general dentist, dental hygienist, dental technician, dental surgeon, orthodontist, endodontist, periodontist, or "other" type of dental professional. Variables corresponding to each of these dental professional types were offered in the MEPS in 1996-2016. Beginning in 2017, respondents were instead asked explicitly whether a smaller set of dental professional types were seen: general dentist, pediatric dentist, dental specialist (e.g., orthodontist, endodontist, periodontist), dental hygienist, or other dental professional.

Universe

Availability

• 1996-2023

Weights

• 1996-2023 : PERWEIGHT

Flags