Relationship between fluoridation and socioeconomic status on dental caries experience in 5‐year‐old New Zealand children

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between fluoridation and socioeconomic status on caries experience, as measured by the dmf index, in 5-yr-old New Zealand children in the city of Dunedin (fluoridated in 1967) and in adjacent non-fluoride communities. The children were subdivided into six socioeconomic status groups (SES 1, professional and managerial-SES 6, unskilled workers), but then for simplicity they were combined to form three groups. A two-way analysis of variance demonstrated that interaction between fluoride history and socioeconomic status was not significant. In all three SES groups, dmf was higher in non-fluoride communities, but the difference was significant only in SES group (5&6) (P less than 0.01). Caries experience increased with decreasing socioeconomic status in both fluoride and non-fluoride communities, but this effect was only significant between SES groups (1&2) and (3&4) in the fluoridated community (P less than 0.05), and between SES groups (3&4) and (5&6) in non-fluoride communities (P less than 0.01). These results are compared with those of similar studies, and it is concluded that so far, the relationship between fluoridation and socioeconomic status on caries experience remains equivocal. A note of caution is sounded regarding the interpretation of such results, and the difficulties faced when comparing studies is discussed.

Water fluoridation, tooth decay in 5 year olds, and social deprivation measured by the Jarman score: analysis of data from British dental surveys

“…In another study the authors concluded that the relation between fluoridation, socioeconomic status, and decay was equivocal 15. They sampled 1661 5 year olds, of whom 923 had a dental examination; 709 questionnaires were returned by parents with the reported fluoride history of their children.…”

Were NZ's structural changes to the welfare state in the early 1990s associated with a measurable increase in oral health inequalities among children?

“…4 In recent decades, epidemiological studies in industrialised societies have invariably shown a distinct socio-economic g radient in the occurrence of dental caries, with disadvantaged people having greater disease prevalence and severity than their less deprived counterpar ts. [5][6][7][8] Moreover, substantial ethnic differentials have been observed in child oral health in both New Zealand 9 and Australia. 10 Dental caries among five-year-olds is reported annually by school dental ser vices throughout New Zealand using two main indicators: the caries-free percentage (from which the prevalence of the disease is easily calculated, being 100 minus that estimate), and the dmft index.…”

Social and behavioural indicators of caries experience in 5‐year‐old children

“…Although tnatiy studies (13,14,19,20) have shown that these differences between soeial classes remained even when water was fluoridated, sotne studies have shown that fluoridation had the greatest relative itnpact on the high caries level found in the lower social class children (21,22).…”