Correlation between caries prevalence, socioeconomic status, and cultural findings in Hispanic children ages 6 months to 8 years

Abstract

There has been a tremendous influx in the number of Hispanic immigrants into the US over the past couple of decades. Many newcomers have families with small children, and dental needs in this pediatric population are disproportionately high. The purpose of this study was to determine if there was any correlation between the increased prevalence of caries and socioeconomic or cultural factors in Hispanic children ages six months to eight years old. To accomplish this, 127 children were given dental examinations by a calibrated dental examiner, and their parents completed a two-page questionnaire with questions regarding socioeconomic factors, den1ographics, and cultural issues. The bivariate relation between caries status and demographic and cultural variables was examined using chi-square tests or Fisher's exact tests for categorical variables and logistic regression for continuous variables. Bivariate relation between defs and demographic and cultural variables was examined using analysis of variance (ANOVA). The mean defs for children up to age two was 1.53; ages two to five the mean defs was 7.73, and for ages six to eight, 9.18. As the prevalence of caries increases with age, the child is more likely to access dental care, but despite this, there is an overall mean 79 percent of untreated decay (of decayed, missing and filled surfaces). In the permanent dentition, the overall mean DMFS was found to be 2.22. There were several factors found to be statistically significant to the incidence of defs. If the child had dental insurance, the child was more likely to have higher defs. If a child had more siblings, the defs score was higher. If the child was on the bottle at less than age one-and-a-half, the child was less likely to have dental caries. If the child on the bottle was older than age one-and-a-half, the child was much more likely to have dental caries. The older the child is when the child goes off the bottle, the more likely the child will have a higher caries experience. There is an extraordinarily large number of untreated caries found in Hispanic children. The reasons for this are multifactorial, but involve cost, language barriers, being new to the area, and not having seen a dentist yet. Identifying those at high risk such as single mothers, those with increased numbers of siblings, and infants that are still on the bottle, or older children that are at increased jeopardy due to prolonged use of the bottle are important factors in treating those that are underserved. Local dental and community organizations could benefit from being apprised of the unmet dental need of Hispanic children and some of the contributing factors. By further investigating and understanding some of the socioeconomic and cultural issues that present barriers to care, treatment might become more accessible and available. Adverse outcomes such as missed school and opportunities for acculturation, inadequate nutrition, pain, and infection might be avoided or diminished.