Oral Health and Dental Management

Abstract

Socio-economic status and caries experience in primary teeth among schoolchildren of 1-st grade in Bucharest

Mihaela Adina Dumitrache, Ruxandra Sfeatcu, Corina Buzea

There are large disparities in oral health between the poor and wealth people. Caries disease process involves host, environment and agent variables. The objective of the paper is to analyze the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and dental caries in primary teeth among schoolchildren in Bucharest. Method: the crosssectional survey included 510 children aged 6 years, which were examined and interviewed according with WHO criteria. Results: there is evidence for an inverse relationship between SES and the caries experience in deciduous dentition among studied schoolchildren: as socio-economic status increase, disease and its impacts decrease. Conclusions: low SES may serve as a marker for increased risk caries; schoolchildren of lower SES must benefit from more frequent and intensive preventive services, education and health promotion activities.