Oral health status of children and adolescents by rural residence, United States.
BACKGROUND
The limited information available on the oral health status of rural children in the United States makes it difficult to devise policy strategies to address perceived problems.


OBJECTIVE
To document the oral health status and dental care utilization of US children by place of residence,


METHODS
Data from National Health Interview Surveys for 1995, 1997, and 1998, and from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1988-1994) were analyzed.


RESULTS
Children residing in rural areas were more likely to be uninsured for dental care than were children from urban areas (41.1% versus 34.7%). A greater percentage of rural than urban children reported unmet dental needs (7.5% versus 5.6%); there was no difference in self-reported poor dental status. Urban children were more likely than rural children to have visited the dentist in the past year (73.6% versus 69.9%) and were also more likely to be regular users of dental care (61.7% versus 51.4%). Differences in percentage of rural and urban children with caries lesions and caries experience were not significant.


CONCLUSIONS
Children residing in rural areas have less access to and utilization of dental care compared to children residing in urban areas. Moreover, poor rural children display less utilization of dental services than poor urban children. Differences in the sum of decayed and filled primary teeth and the sum of decayed, missing, and filled permanent teeth were not significant.
Vargas
Clemencia M
CM
Department of Pediatric Dentistry, University of Maryland Dental School, USA. cmv001@dental.umaryland.edu
Ronzio
Cynthia R
CR
Hayes
Kathy L
KL
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D019140:Dental Care for Children / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D019458:Insurance Coverage / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007347:Insurance, Dental; D008297:Male; D017057:Medically Uninsured; D009911:Oral Hygiene Index; D011203:Poverty / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012423:Rural Health; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014504:Urban Health