Disparities in Early Childhood Caries

被引：89
作者：
Clemencia M Vargas
Cynthia R Ronzio
机构：
[1] University of Maryland Dental School,Department of Health Promotion and Policy
[2] Children's National Medical Center/George Washington University Medical Center,Center for Health Services and Community Research
来源：
BMC Oral Health | / 6卷 / Suppl 1期
关键词：
Oral Health; Dental Caries; Dental Care; Pediatric Dentist; Dental Service;
D O I：
10.1186/1472-6831-6-S1-S3
中图分类号：
学科分类号：
摘要：
Despite remarkable reduction in the prevalence of dental caries in the United States, dental caries is still a highly prevalent disease among children who are socially disadvantaged (racial/ethnic minority, poor, rural, immigrants). Consequently, caries sequelae such as dental pain, need for dental treatment under general anesthesia, and future orthodontic treatment, are also concentrated among the most socially disadvantaged children. To make the situation more appalling, those children who need treatment the most are the ones least likely to visit the dentist. Low income children are less likely to visit the dentist in part because of family's competing needs for limited resources, shortage of pediatric dentists, and dentists not taking uninsured or publicly insured patients. In the same vein, if these children do not have access to dental care, they are deprived from effective caries preventive measures that are dentist-dependent such as sealants and professionally applied fluoride. Dentistry has done well at devising caries preventive and treatment strategies; but these strategies have missed the most needed segment of society: disadvantaged children. The challenge now is to develop innovative strategies to reach these children.
引用
收藏
相关论文
共 98 条
  • [11] Shiboski CH(1996)The association of early childhood caries patterns with caries incidence in preschool children J Public Health Dent 56 81-83
  • [12] Gansky SA(2004)Socioeconomic inequalities in oral health in childhood and adulthood in a birth cohort Community Dent Oral Epidemiol 32 345-353
  • [13] Ramos-Gomez F(2000)Dental services, costs, and factors associated with hospitalization for Medicaid-eligible children, Louisiana 1996–97 J Public Health Dent 60 21-27
  • [14] Ngo L(1996)Prevalence and treatment costs of infant caries in Northern California ASDC J Dent Child 63 108-112
  • [15] Isman R(2000)Medicaid costs associated with the hospitalization of young children for restorative dental treatment under general anesthesia J Public Health Dent 60 28-32
  • [16] Pollick HF(1997)Early childhood caries: overview and recent findings Pediatr Dent 19 12-16
  • [17] Tang JM(1997)Effect of Medicaid reimbursement rates on children's access to dental care Pediatr Dent 19 315-316
  • [18] Altman DS(2000)Money illusion among health care providers: should we adjust for inflation in analyses of provider behavior? Soc Sci and Med 51 395-405
  • [19] Robertson DC(2002)Problems with access to dental care for Medicaid-insured children: what caregivers think Am J Public Health 92 53-58
  • [20] O'Sullivan DM(2002)Oral health status of preschool children attending Head Start in Maryland, 2000 Pediatr De 24 257-63
12345678910