Abstract

TONELLI, Stéphanie Quadros; RODRIGUES, Laise Angélica Mendes; ALENCAR, Ana Maria  and  RODRIGUES, Carlos Alberto Quintão. Evaluation of socioeconomic conditions and access to oral health services on the prevalence of dental caries in children. RFO UPF [online]. 2016, vol.21, n.2, pp.172-177. ISSN 1413-4012.

Objective: This research aims to assess the relationship of socioeconomic factors in the occurrence of dental caries, and to analyze the impact of establishing an oral health team (OHT), comparing the need for dental treatment of caries in accompanied children and children not ascribed by an OHT, in a population of children aged 1-70 months (0-5 years). Subjects and method: This analytical quantitative study included the collection of socioeconomic data and oral health status of 150 children aged 0 to 5 years. A calibrated dentist assessed ceo-d and need for dental treatment indexes, and conducted interviews with parents/guardians of the subjects to investigate literacy of the head of the family, water supply, household income, number of people in the household, and per capita income. The subjects were divided into two groups: G1 (access to OHT) and G2 (no access). Results: Most of the children assessed lives in households with literate heads of family and have access to the public water supply system. The average ceo-d of the entire sample was 1.17 and the average number of teeth in need of treatment was 0.74; 77% of the children assessed showed ceo-d equal to 0. There were no statistically significant differences between the ceo-d of both groups, but G1 presented lower need for dental treatment. Conclusions: The inclusion of an OHT reduces dental treatment needs, and it is specially recommended with the lowest socioeconomic indices.

Keywords : Dental care.; Dental caries.; Socioeconomic factors.; Oral health..

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