Denture stomatitis prevalence is associated with the amount of tissue covered by dentures, low vitamin A levels, cigarette smoking, and constant denture wear.

Reported prevalences for rare conditions in other studies employing more selected samples (especially if standard errors or confidence intervals are not provided) should be interpreted with caution. Studies of adult populations, however valid, may have limited applicability to children.

Objectives: An association between low birth weight and caries in the primary dentition has been suggested but not demonstrated. This study analyzed this association using data from a probability sample of US children 2–6 years of age. Methods: Data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) were used. Variables included decayed and filled primary surfaces (dfs), birth weight, gestational age, and Apgar score (a surrogate measure of fetal well-being); maternal age, education, income; number of previous births, marital status, the existence of pregnancy complications, and cigarette smoking during the pregnancy. Data were analyzed using SUDAAN 8.0.2. Results: Bivariate Poisson regression showed that children of mothers who were unmarried (incidence density ratio, IDR = 3.28), with less education (IDR = 1.43), who were 17 years of age or younger at birth (IDR = 1.51), and had 2 or fewer prenatal visits (IDR = 1.65) had a significantly ( p <0.05) greater risk of caries than the reference groups. Children of mothers with pregnancy-related hypertension (IDR = 0.14) had less than 20% the risk of caries than the reference group. Blacks (IDR = 1.37) and Mexican-Americans (IDR = 2.38) had greater risk of caries than whites, and children of low (IDR = 2.57) and middle income (IDR = 2.00) level families had higher caries risks than those of upper income families. Multivariate Poisson regression found only race-ethnicity, age, and income level to be statistically significant. Conclusions: This study did not support the association between low birth weight and caries of the primary dentition.

To explore the association between incisal trauma and occlusal characteristics using oral examination and health interview data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1988-1994 (NHANES III). Incisal trauma examinations were performed on 15 364 individuals 6-50 years of age using an ordinal scale developed by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. Occlusal examinations were performed on 13 057 individuals 8-50 years of age. We fitted separate multivariate logistic regression models for maxillary and mandibular incisor trauma adjusting for socio-demographic variables (age, gender, race-ethnicity) and occlusal characteristics (overbite, overjet, open bite). 23.45% of all individuals evidenced trauma on at least one incisor, with trauma more than four times more prevalent on maxillary (22.59%) than on mandibular incisors (4.78%). Males (OR = 1.67) had greater odds of trauma than females; Whites (OR = 1.37) and non-Hispanic Blacks (OR = 1.37) had greater odds of trauma than Mexican-Americans. The odds of trauma increased with age, peaked from age 21 to 30 (OR = 2.92), and declined. As overjet increased, so did the odds of trauma. Compared to individuals with < or =0-mm overjet, odds of trauma increased from 1-3 mm (OR = 1.42) to 4-6 mm (OR = 2.42) to 7-8 mm (OR = 3.24) to >8 mm (OR = 12.47). Trauma to incisors is prevalent but mostly limited to enamel. Trauma to maxillary incisors is associated with overjet, gender, race-ethnicity, and age, while trauma to mandibular incisors is associated with gender, age, and overbite.

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