Increased Dental Use May Affect Changes in Treated and Untreated Dental Caries in Young Children

Details

• Alternative Title:
  JDR Clin Trans Res
• Personal Author:
  Lin, M. ; Thornton-Evans, G. ; Griffin, S.O. ; Wei, L. ; Junger, M. ; Espinoza, L.
• Description:
  Introduction: ; From 1999–2004 to 2011–2014, untreated dental caries prevalence decreased among US children aged 2 to 5 y, regardless of family income. Policies were concurrently initiated for children to increase access to preventive dental services in dental, primary, and community settings and to restorative care in dental settings. ; Objectives: ; We aimed to examine 1) whether changes in prevalence and severity of untreated and treated caries between the periods varied by family income and 2) to what degree increased past-year dental visit (PYDV) contributed to the changes. ; Methods: ; We used data for 3,822 children in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999 to 2004 and 2011 to 2014. Caries prevalence included prevalence of untreated caries with ≥1 decayed teeth (dt) and prevalence of treated caries with ≥1 filled teeth (ft). Caries severity included number of dt and ft among those with ≥1 dt or ft. We estimated changes in caries outcomes among low- and higher-income children with models—one controlling for sociodemographics and another controlling for sociodemographics and PYDV. Significant changes (P < 0.05) becoming insignificant after controlling for PYDV provide insight on the contribution of PYDV to changes in outcomes. ; Results: ; Prevalence of untreated caries decreased for low- and higher-income children, with a slightly larger decrease for low-income children; dt decreased only for low-income children; and estimated decreases did not vary by model. An increase in prevalence of treated caries was observed only among low-income children but became minimized and insignificant after controlling for PYDV. Similarly, after controlling for PYDV, the increase in ft among low-income children lost significance, whereas the increase among higher-income children remained. ; Conclusion: ; Untreated caries among children aged 2 to 5 y declined from 1999–2004 to 2011–2014, with larger declines among low-income children. While changes in PYDV contributed to increases in treated caries, particularly for low-income children, additional factors appear to have contributed to decreased untreated caries.
• Subjects:
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Dental Caries
  • Humans
  • Income
  • Nutrition Surveys
  • Poverty
  • Prevalence
• Keywords:
  • dental utilization
  • poverty status
  • child
  • dental care
  • public health surveillance
  • health surveys
• Source:
  JDR Clin Trans Res. 4(1):49-57
• Pubmed ID:
  30931762
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC8928738
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  4
• Issue:
  1
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/115504/cdc_115504_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 317.27 KB]
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:a9c159ffb0fcc79ae14a3d5ba59cd65b53c87c539368a85c06db2c7c016bd61575d63566dcab2793146d3c8128861695713464fa021330eff7d44d67e20cf2f0