Factors Associated with Dental Caries in Primary Dentition in a Non-Fluoridated Rural Community of New South Wales, Australia
1
School of Science and Health, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia
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Oral Health Services and Sydney Dental Hospital, Sydney Local Health District, Surry Hills, NSW 2010, Australia
3
Discipline of Paediatrics and Child Health, Sydney Medical School, Westmead, NSW 2145, Australia
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Collaboration for Oral Health Outcomes Research, Translation, and Evaluation (COHORTE) Research Group, Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research, Locked Bag 7103, Liverpool, NSW 1871, Australia
5
Capital Markets Cooperative Research Centre, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2017, 14(12), 1444; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14121444
Received: 29 September 2017 / Revised: 14 November 2017 / Accepted: 17 November 2017 / Published: 23 November 2017
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Epidemiology and Determinants of Dental Caries in Children)
Dental caries persists as one of the most prevalent chronic diseases among children worldwide. This study aims to determine factors that influence dental caries in primary dentition among primary school children residing in the rural non-fluoridated community of Lithgow, New South Wales, Australia. A total of 495 children aged 5–10 years old from all the six primary schools in Lithgow were approached to participate in a cross-sectional survey prior to implementation of water fluoridation in 2014. Following parental consent, children were clinically examined for caries in their primary teeth, and parents were requested to complete a questionnaire on previous fluoride exposure, diet and relevant socio-demographic characteristics that influence oral health. Multiple logistic regression analysis was employed to examine the independent risk factors of primary dentition caries. Overall, 51 percent of children had dental caries in one or more teeth. In the multiple logistic regression analysis, child’s age (Adjusted Odd’s Ratio (AOR) = 1.30, 95% CI: 1.14–1.49) and mother’s extraction history (AOR = 2.05, 95% CI: 1.40–3.00) were significantly associated with caries experience in the child’s primary teeth. In addition, each serve of chocolate consumption was associated with 52 percent higher odds (AOR = 1.52, 95% CI: 1.19–1.93) of primary dentition caries.
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Keywords:
dental caries; primary dentition; school children; non-fluoridated; Australia
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Arora, A.; Manohar, N.; John, J.R. Factors Associated with Dental Caries in Primary Dentition in a Non-Fluoridated Rural Community of New South Wales, Australia. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2017, 14, 1444.
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