Sociodemographic Variation of Caries Risk Factors in Toddlers and Caregivers

Abstract EN

|Objectives.

Dental caries is the most common chronic childhood disease, with numerous identified risk factors.

Risk factor differences could indicate the need to target caregiver/patient education/preventive care intervention strategies based on population and/or individual characteristics.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate caries risk factors differences by race/ethnicity, income, and education.

Methods.

We enrolled 396 caregiver-toddler pairs and administered a 105-item questionnaire addressing demographics, access to care, oral bacteria transmission, caregiver's/toddler's dental and medical health practices, caregiver's dental beliefs, and caregiver's/toddler's snacking/drinking habits.

Logistic regressions and ANOVAs were used to evaluate the associations of questionnaire responses with caregiver's race/ethnicity, income, and education.

Results.

Caregivers self-identified as Non-Hispanic African-American (44%), Non-Hispanic White (36%), Hispanic (19%), and “other” (1%).

Differences related to race/ethnicity, income, and education were found in all risk factor categories.

Conclusions.

Planning of caregiver/patient education/preventive care intervention strategies should be undertaken with these caries risk factor differences kept in mind.