Objectives: To identify some of the clinical, socio-demographic, and socio-economic variables associated with dental caries prevalence in primary teeth, as well as the prevalence and severity of caries in permanent teeth, among 6-to-10 years old with mixed dentition.
Material and method: A cross-sectional study on 2270 school children with mixed dentition in Northwest Mexico was undertaken, with oral exams used to collect data on oral hygiene and dental caries experience--based on criteria by the World Health Organization, and on Pitts D1/d1 lesion classification. Dependent variables were d1eft > 0, D1MFT >0, and D1MFT > or =4. We used questionnaires filled out by the mothers/guardians to ascertain socio-demographic and socio-economic variables. Data were analyzed using logistic regression.
Results: Mean age was 8.1 +/- 1.3 years, and 50.9% of participants were female. Mean deft was 5.0 +/- 3.2 (d1eft > 0 = 91.6% of participants), and mean D1MFT was 2.5 +/- 1.9 (D1MFT >0 = 77.1% of participants). Variables associated with caries in the primary dentition were younger age (odds ratio (OR) = 0.76), high sugar intake (OR = 1.34), mediocre oral hygiene (OR = 2.24) and poor/very poor hygiene (OR = 3.86), frequent intake of soft drinks (OR = 2.25), having had a preventive dental visit in the 12 months prior to the study (OR = 0.70), having health insurance with a public sector provider (OR = 0.63), and having low socio-economic level (OR = 1.92). For the primary dentition, variables were female sex (OR = 1.43), older age of the child (OR = 2.21), older age of the father (OR = 1.03), high sugar intake (OR = 1.38), mediocre oral hygiene (OR = 4.89), poor/very poor hygiene (OR = 8.74), and having had caries in the primary dentition (OR = 6.88). In terms of severity (D1MFT > or =4), trends were similar to prevalence.
Conclusions: Dental caries remains a public health problem for this population. Diverse clinical, sociodemographic, and socio-economic variables were associated with dental caries experience in both dentitions.