Social inequality and caries studied in 1,719 Danish military recruits

Abstract

Information on the social origin, dental health related behavior and patterns of utilization of dental services were collected simultaneously with epidemiologic data on dental caries from 1,719 Danish recruits called‐up for military training at the Karup Air Base during 1972. The findings indicated that the less privileged social groups had more decayed teeth, had lost more teeth and had fewer filled teeth than the more privileged groups. Exposure to the regular care program provided by the School Dental Health Service and the Youth Dental Care Scheme seemed to have a leveling effect among social groups. However, the less privileged social groups had a significantly lower participation rate in the Youth Dental Care Scheme and accounted for a larger number of drop‐outs from the regular care program when compared to the more privileged groups. Rural/urban residency was not found to be associated with the number of DMF teeth or the rate of utilization of the Youth Dental Care Scheme, if selected social variables were held constant.

Utilization of alternative delivery programs in youth dental care in Denmark

“…Frequencies of regular. 'irregular users and dropouts/non-users respectively are given in Table 3, Logistic regression analysis of the frequency of use in the Mixed and the Private groups showed that both delivery program (P = 0,00) and sex {P = 0,00) had significant effect, whereas there was significant association neither between social background and utilization (P = 0,26) nor between self-assessment of teeth and utilization (P = 0,14), Odds ratios for utilization between the Private and the Mixed groups were: ORpnvait M. j Ki = 2,04 with estimated approximative 95%i confidence limits (1,32,3,16), After correction for delivery program, women had a higher probability of being regular or irregular users than men, ORw™., M™ = 3.43 (2,22,5,28),…”

“…At the end of the 197O's this program featured free dental examinations and a subsidy of 75% of the expenses related to most preventive and curative dental services in private dental practice. The regional NHI office was responsible for sending out reminders every 6 months to those enrolled in the program, A number of cross-sectional utilization studies have demonstrated that only 60-80% of the eligible young adult population participate in the program on a regular basis with a number of social and demographic variables influencing the utilization pattern (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9),…”

Dental caries in South African Black and White high school pupils in relation to sugar intake and snack habits

“…Indeed, the differences between our previous and present dietary data are quite insufficient to explain the major increases in caries that have occurred. In Denmark, two populations of adolescents were found to have very divergent mean scores of 10.4 and 16.6 (3,10). As examples, the huge difference in caries experience between the two primitively-living populations examined in Columbia are not explained by the exhaustive studies of BOWEN et al (11).…”

“…New Zealand, 15.8 (7); and for older children in Denmark, 10.4 and 16.6 (3,10). New Zealand, 15.8 (7); and for older children in Denmark, 10.4 and 16.6 (3,10).…”

“…Principle findings were: (1) Mean sugar intake rose progressively from rural Blaeks to urban Whites. 3) In the different ethnic groups of girls, intakes in the lower thirds of sugar consumption were roughly of the same order; yet there was a five-fold differential range in mean caries scores. Values for Indians and Coloureds were intermediate.…”