Conditional factors for untreated caries in 12-year-old children in the city of Sao Paulo

ABSTRACT

The aim of the study was to analyze what sociodemographic and economic variables were associated with the presence of untreated caries in 12-year-old children in the city of São Paulo. This cross-sectional study had a complex sample design. It was based on secondary data generated by the Levantamento epidemiológico em saúde bucal (Epidemiological Oral Health Survey) in the city of São Paulo, conducted in 2008, whose sample comprised 4,246 12-year-old children from the public and private schools of all the administrative districts of the city. A questionnaire was applied and an epidemiological exam was performed in accordance with the World Health Organization's (WHO) recommendations. The variables of interest were categorized into a dependent variable of untreated dental caries (carious component of the DMFT index that corresponds to carious, missing and filled teeth) and independent variables related to the socioeconomic and demographic conditions of the children and their families, and to their access to dental services. The EPI-INFO 06 and STATA 10 programs were used for the analysis; the prevalence ratio and a confidence interval of 95% were applied to the population parameters. The Poisson regression model was used, adjusted for sampling of the complex type. Caries was associated with ethnicity (higher rate in black people, p = 0.042), attending public school (p = 0.000), lower average family income (p = 0.002), overcrowded dwellings (p = 0.000) and presence of pain (p = 0.000). Caries is a multifactorial disease influenced by social health determinants that intensify its risk.