Inequalities of caries experience in Nevada youth expressed by DMFT index vs. Significant Caries Index (SiC) over time

作者：Marcia M. Ditmyer, Georgia Dounis, Connie C. Mobley, Eli Schwarz · 发表于：BMC Oral Health · 年份：2011 · DOI：10.1186/1472-6831-11-12 · 被引用次数：61 · 研究领域：Dental Health and Care Utilization、Oral microbiology and periodontitis research、Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies

BACKGROUND: With the increasingly polarized distribution of dental caries among children and adolescents, the usual DMFT measure has become a less meaningful population descriptor. To re-focus on identifying the high caries prevalence group the Significant Caries Index (SiC) was created. The aims of this study were to analyze the prevalence and severity of dental caries in Nevada youth over a period of eight years and to compare its expression by means of DMFT and SiC; analyze the caries trends in the population and their underlying factors, and determine whether Nevada youth were at risk for significantly high levels of dental caries. METHODS: Retrospective data was analyzed from a series of sequential, standardized oral health surveys across eight years (2001/2002-2008/2009) that included over 62,000 examinations of adolescents 13-19 years of age, attending public/private Nevada schools. Mean Decayed-Missing-Filled Teeth index (DMFT) and Significant Caries Index (SiC) were subsequently computed for each academic year. Descriptive statistics were reported for analysis of comparative DMFT and SiC scores in relation to age, gender, racial background, and residence in a fluoridated/non-fluoridated community. Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the differential impact of the variables on the probability of being in the high caries prevalence group. RESULTS: Comparison of students' mean DMFT to National (NHANES) data confirmed that dental caries remains a common chro...