Availability of public dental care service and dental caries increment in children: a cohort study

Abstract

Objective: Evaluate the impact of the availability of public dental care service on the increment of dental caries in children. Methods: This is a 2-year cohort study that followed preschool children from southern Brazil. Dental caries was measured at baseline and follow-up evaluation, considering the number of surfaces with untreated dental caries. Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics as well as the use and availability of dental services were assessed. Multilevel Poisson regression analysis through a hierarchical approach and considering a random effect for repeated measures was used to explore the influence of exploratory variables in the increase in the outcome. Results: A total of 419 cases were evaluated at follow-up (91.3% cohort retention rate). The increase in the untreated dental caries was associated with living in places where there is no regular presence of dentists in the public health system. In addition, the increment of dental caries was influenced by age, household income, and dental attendance. Conclusion: The results suggest that the availability of dentists in the public health system have an impact the increment of dental caries among children. The integration of the dentist in the primary healthcare can contribute to decrease the barriers that lead to children's oral health. * p value < .05. † Model 1: empty model, represents unconditional model. ‡ Model 2: mutually adjusted for demographic and socioeconomic variables. ¶ Model 3: fully adjusted for demographic, socioeconomic and behaviors variables.

The Impact of Early Childhood Factors on Dental Caries Incidence in First Permanent Molars: A 7-Year Follow-Up Study

“…Some aspects need also to be addressed to explain the incidence of dental caries. A factor that can impact the incidence of caries is the availability and access to dental services, as demonstrated in previous studies [Harris, 2016;Moraes et al, 2020]. Both the amount and quality of care provided are inversely related to the need, as proposed by the Inverse Care Law [Harris, 2016].…”

Socio-economic and health determinants of untreated Dental Caries Burden of a group of children in rural Sri Lanka

“…It is possible to unavailable facilities to provide treatments for dental caries of children. However, a cohort study conducted in Southern Brazil has revealed that availability of public dental care reduces the untreated dental caries in children as it increased the accessibility (Moraes et al, 2021) [10] . In this rural Sri Lankan group of children oral health care utilization might be affected by many factors which are not investigated in this study, demonstrating no association between untreated dental caries and availability of oral health care.…”

Direct relations between sense of coherence and oral health‐related quality of life in adolescents

“…Occupation, parental schooling, and low family income were identified as predisposing factors for dental caries in children and adolescents (López et al, 2006; Peres et al, 2005). DMFT, being such a mediator, could rely on the socioeconomic influence of access to dental care, as well as behavioral factors (Moraes et al, 2020; Vettore et al, 2019).…”