Background In the Appalachian region, a variety of factors will impact the ability of patients to maintain good oral health, which is essential for overall health and well-being. Oral health issues have led to high costs within the Appalachian hospital system. Dental informatics examines preventable dental conditions to understand the problem and suggest cost containment. Objective We aimed to demonstrate the value of dental informatics in dental health care in rural Appalachia by presenting a research study that measured emergency room (ER) use for nontraumatic dental conditions (NTDCs) and the associated economic impact in a hospital system that primarily serves rural Appalachia. Methods The Appalachian Clinical and Translational Science Institute’s oral health data mart with relevant data on patients (n=8372) with ER encounters for NTDC between 2010 and 2018 was created using Appalachian Clinical and Translational Science Institute’s research data warehouse. Exploratory analysis was then performed by developing an interactive Tableau dashboard. Dental Informatics provided the platform whereby the overall burden of these encounters, along with disparities in burden by age groups, gender, and primary payer, was assessed. Results Dental informatics was essential in understanding the overall problem and provided an interactive and easily comprehensible visualization of the situation. We found that ER visits for NTDCs declined by 40% from 2010 to 2018, but a higher percentage of visits required inpatient care and surgical intervention. Conclusions Dental informatics can provide the necessary tools and support to health care systems and state health departments across Appalachia to address serious dental problems. In this case, informatics helped identify that although inappropriate ER use for NTDCs diminished due to ER diversion efforts, they remain a significant burden. Through its visualization and data extraction techniques, dental informatics can help produce policy changes by promoting models that improve access to preventive care.

BACKGROUND Rural medical centers, especially in the Appalachian region, have limited funds and expertise to pursue the latest technologies without evidence of their definite cost/benefit. We endeavor to show that dental informatics, which combines dentistry and information technologies, can help identify strategies leading to improved care and reduced cost for a very underserved population. OBJECTIVE Demonstrate the value of dental informatics on dental health care in rural Appalachia through a study measuring emergency room (ER) use for non-traumatic dental conditions (NTDC) and associated economic impact in a hospital system that primarily serves rural Appalachia. METHODS The Appalachian Clinical and Translational Science Institute’s Oral health data mart with relevant data on patients (n=8372) with ER encounters for NTDC between 2010 and 2018 was created using Appalachian Clinical and Translational Science Institute’s research data warehouse. Exploratory analysis was then performed through the development of an interactive dashboard using Tableau. The overall burden of these encounters along with disparities in burden by age groups, gender, and primary payer was assessed. RESULTS Dental informatics was essential in understanding the overall problem and provided an interactive and easily comprehensible visualization of the situation. We found that ER visits for NTDC’s declined by 40% from 2010 to 2018 but a higher percentage of visits required inpatient care and surgical intervention. CONCLUSIONS Dental Informatics can provide the necessary tools and support to healthcare systems and state health departments across Appalachia to address serious dental problems. In this case, informatics helped identify that although inappropriate ER use for NTDCs diminished due to ER diversion efforts, they remain a significant burden. Policy changes to promote models that improve access to preventive care such as that divert patients from ER by integrating preventive and curative dental services with existing medical coverage are needed.