Caries Experience Differs between Females and Males across Age Groups in Northern Appalachia

Abstract

Sex disparities in dental caries have been observed across many populations, with females typically exhibiting higher prevalence and more affected teeth. In this study we assessed the sex disparities in two Northern Appalachian populations from West Virginia (WV, N = 1997) and Pennsylvania (PA, N = 1080) by comparing caries indices between males and females across four phases of dental development: primary dentition in children aged 1–5 years, mixed dentition in children aged 6–11 years, permanent dentition in adolescents aged 12–17 years, and permanent dentition in adults aged 18–59 years. No significant sex differences were observed for children aged 1–5 years. Contrary to national and international trends, WV girls aged 6–11 years had 1.5 fewer affected teeth than boys (p < 0.001). However, by ages 12–17, caries indices in the WV girls matched those in boys. In both WV and PA adults, women and men had similar total counts of affected teeth (i.e., DMFT), although women had more dental restorations (p < 0.001) and men had more current decay (p < 0.001). These results suggest that in some Appalachian populations, young girls benefit from protection against caries that is lost during adolescence and that adult women utilize dental health care to a greater degree than men.

Dental caries in a South African adult population: findings from the Cape Town Vascular and Metabolic Health Study

“…Globally, there is great variation in the prevalence of caries across and within countries 22 . Gender differences in caries experience were evident in the current study, with females presenting higher levels than males, in accordance with previous publications [23][24][25] . Several physiological and behavioural explanations have been used to explain this gender difference.…”

“…Males had an average age of 47.3 years and females had average age of 50.2 years (P < 0.001 for gender difference). The distribution of participants by age groups was: 115 (6.1%) for ≤ 24 years, 275 (14.6%) for [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35]…”

Dental Caries Experience among Industrial Workers in Parwanoo, Himachal Pradesh, India

“…12 Mean DMFT was higher among females (1.06) as compared to males (0.93) which was not statistically significant (P = 0.187). This is in line with the findings of Shaffer JR et al 13 15 This may be due to the fact that teeth erupt earlier in females when compared to males, implicating that female teeth are exposed to the saliva oral environment for a longer duration of time than the males of the same age group. 16 Higher caries risk in females could also be attributed to fluctuation of hormones.…”

Predictors of dental care utilization in north‐central Appalachia in the USA

“…The West Virginia sample was from Webster and Nicholas counties; the Pennsylvania sample included the communities of Burgettstown, Bradford and Braddock. Except for Braddock, a borough east of Pittsburgh, all other catchment areas are rural . West Virginia has lower income, lower education and fewer dental visits per year, relative to Pennsylvania.…”