Differential Unmet Needs and Experience of Restorative Dental Care in Trajectories of Dental Caries Experience: A Birth Cohort Study.

Dental caries is a chronic and cumulative disease but little has been reported on the continuity of the disease and its treatment through life. Group-based multi-trajectory modeling was used to identify developmental trajectories of untreated carious tooth surfaces (DS), restored tooth surfaces (FS), and teeth extracted due to caries (MT) from ages 9 to 45 years in a New Zealand longitudinal birth cohort, the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study (n = 975). Associations between early-life risk factors and trajectory group membership were examined by specifying the probability of group membership according to a multinomial logit model. Six trajectory groups were identified and labeled: "low caries rate"; "moderate caries rate, maintained"; "moderate caries rate, unmaintained"; "high caries rate, restored"; "high caries rate, tooth loss"; and "high caries rate, untreated caries". The two moderate-caries-rate groups differed in count of FS. The three high-caries-rate groups differed in the relative proportion of accumulated DS, FS, and MT. Early childhood risk factors associated with less favorable trajectories included higher dmfs scores at age 5, lack of exposure to community water fluoridation during the first 5 years of life, lower childhood IQ, and low childhood socioeconomic status. Parent self-ratings of their own or their child's oral health as "poor" were associated with less favorable caries experience trajectories. Children who had clinical signs of dental caries together with a parent rating of child's oral health as poor were more likely to follow a less favorable caries trajectory. Higher deciduous dentition caries experience at age 5 years was associated with less favorable caries trajectories, as were children whose parents gave "poor" ratings of their own or their child's oral health. These findings highlight the considerable intergenerational continuity in dental caries experience from early childhood to midlife. Subjective measures of child oral health are informative and might aid as predictors of adult caries experience in cases where childhood dental clinical data were not available.

Long-Term Survival of Enamel-Defect-Affected Teeth.

There has been considerable research focussed on the occurrence and aetiology of developmental defects of enamel, but less is known about the extent to which enamel-defect-affected teeth may be at greater risk for dental caries. The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study is a prospective cohort study of 1,037 children born in Dunedin, New Zealand, between April 1, 1972, and March 31, 1973. Participants were examined for the presence of developmental defects of enamel at the age of 9 years and then repeatedly for the occurrence of dental caries through to the age of 45 years. After controlling for confounding variables, incisor teeth affected by demarcated opacities at the age of 9 were 3.4 times more likely to be restored than teeth unaffected by defects. Incisors with diffuse opacities and hypoplasia or combinations of defects were 2.8 times more likely to be restored. Molars with enamel defects of any type did not have any significantly different risk for being subsequently restored or lost due to caries than unaffected molars, except those affected by diffuse opacities, which were at 0.4 times the risk of being lost due to caries. Dental clinicians should be aware that enamel-defect-affected teeth are not necessarily at greater risk for tooth loss due to caries in the long term, but permanent incisors affected by enamel defects are at higher risk of receiving restorative intervention.

Oral Health-Related Quality of Life from Young Adulthood to Mid-Life.

Quality of life varies with time, often worsening, and is affected by circumstances, events, and exposures at different stages of life. Little is known about how oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) changes during middle age. We investigated OHRQoL changes from age 32 to 45 years among participants in a population-based birth cohort, along with clinical and socio-behavioural associations. Generalised estimating equation models were used to investigate the association between OHRQoL (assessed at ages 32, 38, and 45 years; n = 844), and the socioeconomic position in childhood (up to age 15 years) and adulthood (ages 26 through to 45 years), dental self-care (dental services utilisation and tooth brushing), oral conditions (such as tooth loss), and experiencing a dry mouth. The multivariable analyses were controlled for sex and personality traits. At each stage of life, those of a lower socioeconomic status were at greater risk of experiencing OHRQoL impacts. Those who engaged in favourable dental self-care habits (the regular use of dental services and at least twice daily tooth brushing) experienced fewer impacts. A social disadvantage at any stage of life has enduring deleterious effects on one's quality of life in middle age. Ensuring access to timely and appropriate dental health services in adulthood may reduce the impacts of oral conditions on one's quality of life.