Objectives: To predict experience of dental pain and hospital dental general anesthetic receipt among Mäori, Pacific and New Zealand European or Other (NZEO) children in New Zealand.
Methods: Data were from the 2002 National Child Nutrition Survey. Models representing demographic, socio-economic status (SES), lifestyle, dietary, food security and oral health paradigms were tested using logistic regression.
Results: Some 3275 children participated; 37.4% Mäori, 32.3% Pacific and 30.3% NZEO. Mäori children had higher odds of dental pain experience than NZEO children after adjusting for age, sex and length of time lived in New Zealand and with addition of household SES or physical factors. There were no differences in Pacific and NZEO child dental pain experience when the same factors were accounted for. The prevalence of dental general anesthetic receipt was similar among Mäori, Pacific and NZEO children after adjusting for demographic, lifestyle, dietary, food security and dental factors in separate models. When such factors were investigated together, Pacific children were less likely to have received a dental general anesthetic than NZEO children.
Conclusions: Mäori children were more likely to experience dental pain and Pacific children were less likely to have received a dental general anesthetic than NZEO children after accounting for various behavioral and material factors. The latter may reflect issues pertaining to access and culturally insensitive services rather than demand for care per se.