[Disparities in dental health among school children in the city of Stuttgart].
OBJECTIVE
In an ecological study, we investigated differences in dental health among children attending elementary schools in Stuttgart.


METHODS
We used a classification of 67 socially homogeneous districts into seven clusters with comparable socio-economic structures. Public health service dentists data of the school year 1999/2000 on 16755 children were assigned to the seven clusters.


RESULTS
81.7% of children had healthy natural permanent teeth (variation among the clusters: 74.6-88.0%). Not children in the poorest areas had the worst results but children living in inner-city areas. They were twice as likely not to have healthy natural teeth and three times as likely to be in need of dental treatment than children living in affluent areas.


CONCLUSIONS
Efforts in prevention of dental health should be strengthened in nurseries and schools in socially deprived areas.
Erb
Jodok
J
Gesundheitsamt der Landeshauptstadt Stuttgart. jodok.erb@stuttgart.de
Barton
Karl Dietmar
KD
Schick
Karl-Heinz
KH
Fischer
Dorothee
D
Herweg
Oliver
O
D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D019140:Dental Care for Children / Q000639:trends*; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003753:Dental Health Surveys; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D012306:Risk; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014505:Urban Population