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Employing AI tools to predict features for dental care use in the United States during the global respiratory illness outbreak
Preeti Zanwar, Hamid‐Reza Kohan‐Ghadr, Vijayakumar Thirumalai, Suad F. Ghaddar, Shuo Jim Huang, Beth A. Harkness, Eben Rey, Romanch Shah et al.. Frontiers in Public Health, 2026-01-13
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Oral health is strongly associated with overall health. Prior research has demonstrated the benefits of regular dental visits to prevent initiation and progression of systemic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases (Macek MD & Tomar SL, 2009;Hardon L, et al., 2023). Prior research has also demonstrated the impacts of dental treatments such as scaling, and root planning on reductions in chronic inflammation which can further help in managing chronic conditions like diabetes (Santas VR et al., 2009). The American Dental Association recommends routine visits to a dentist once or twice a year for children, adults and older adults to manage overall health (1,2). Some individuals may need to visit a dentist more than twice a year to maintain good oral health and overall health (1). Increasing levels of income and education are associated with higher frequency of annual dental care visits on a population level. Challenges in accessing dental public health services have been associated with the exacerbation of systemic health ailments, including multimorbidity, diabetes, heart and lung disease, dementia, arthritis and complications during pregnancy among ethnically and culturally diverse populations (5)(6)(7). When comparing population groups, Black/African and Hispanic/Latino Americans have reported higher levels of untreated dental disease compared to White Americans (11) In the context of the recent pandemic of 2020-2022, these disparities were further compounded due to urgent oral treatments taking precedence over routine visits (12). While research has been done on what factors and obstacles in healthcare were associated with barriers to dental visits before 2020 (8)(9)(10)(11), much less has been examined regarding the factors associated with decline in dental care utilization beyond age-related survey stratifications of dental visits during the peak of the global public health crisis in 2021 (12). Specifically, the objectives were to (1) demonstrate how Al approaches can be used with nationally representative survey data; (2) provide preliminary findings from multiple Al models regarding top factors associated with dental services utilization in the U.S. using feature importance; and (3) identify to which extent these factors vary across different Al models. This is because these groups are underrepresented in a standard national sample, and oversampling allows researchers to have a statistically significant sample size for detailed analysis
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
APA 7th
Zanwar, P., Kohan‐Ghadr, H., Thirumalai, V., Ghaddar, S. F., Huang, S. J., Harkness, B. A., et al. (2026). Employing AI tools to predict features for dental care use in the United States during the global respiratory illness outbreak. Frontiers in Public Health. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1692540
Vancouver
Zanwar P, Kohan‐Ghadr H, Thirumalai V, Ghaddar SF, Huang SJ, Harkness BA, et al. Employing AI tools to predict features for dental care use in the United States during the global respiratory illness outbreak. Frontiers in Public Health. 2026. doi:10.3389/fpubh.2025.1692540. PMID: 41607911.
BibTeX
@article{zanwar2026-41607911,
author = {Zanwar, Preeti and Kohan‐Ghadr, Hamid‐Reza and Thirumalai, Vijayakumar and Ghaddar, Suad F. and Huang, Shuo Jim and Harkness, Beth A. and Rey, Eben and Shah, Romanch and others},
title = {{Employing AI tools to predict features for dental care use in the United States during the global respiratory illness outbreak}},
journal = {Frontiers in Public Health},
year = {2026},
doi = {10.3389/fpubh.2025.1692540},
pmid = {41607911},
url = {https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1692540}
}
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record's author list ends in “et al.”, so not every author is named. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
Key findings
- Oral health is strongly associated with overall health.
- Prior research has demonstrated the benefits of regular dental visits to prevent initiation and progression of systemic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases (Macek MD & Tomar SL, 2009;Hardon L, et al., 2023).
- Prior research has also demonstrated the impacts of dental treatments such as scaling, and root planning on reductions in chronic inflammation which can further help in managing chronic conditions like diabetes (Santas VR et al., 2009).
- The American Dental Association recommends routine visits to a dentist once or twice a year for children, adults and older adults to manage overall health (1,2).
- Some individuals may need to visit a dentist more than twice a year to maintain good oral health and overall health (1).
Why it matters
This article describes associations between oral health and overall health and notes that challenges in accessing dental services have been associated with worsening of systemic ailments including dementia. It does not report any treatment, cure, or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
Study details
- Study designcross-sectional
- Participants1,488
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 46/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal, and it is a snapshot of people at one point in time. Scored zero for effect reported and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on senior author's track record, so that was left out: it earned 44 of the 96 points we could judge it on, which is 46 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Frontiers in Public Health) |
| Journal's citation record | 2 / 4 | Frontiers in Public Health: journal h-index 174 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 4 / 12 | A snapshot of people at one point in time |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 5 / 5 | 2026 — within 1 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 3 / 4 | 1,488 participants |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 0 / 7 | Cited 0 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 0 / 5 | 0.0 citations a year over 2 year(s) since 2026 |
| Impact for its field and year | 0 / 6 | Cited 0.0× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 0 / 6 | No other study in this library cites it |
| Still being cited | 0 / 4 | Cited 0 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | OpenAlex's profile for last-listed author Deborah Guadalupe Duran holds only 9 work(s), too few to judge a track record — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | 2 / 3 | University of Chicago: institution h-index 1,769 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 3 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 10 institution(s) in 2 countries |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 41607911) |
| Free to read | 2 / 2 | Free to read |
| Points | 44 / 96 | Scored on 19 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 44 of the 96 points we could judge it on is 46 out of 100. |
| Total | 46 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
- DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1692540
- PubMed: 41607911
- Original source →
- Free full text: Frontiers in Public Health →
Full text: free to read — OpenAlex lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 6 Feb 1020).
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