title: [Dental caries experience in children at public and private schools from a city with fluoridated water].
abstract: The aim of this study was to verify the relationship between type of school as a measure of socioeconomic conditions and caries prevalence among preschoolers and schoolchildren in Rio Claro, São Paulo State, Brazil, a city with fluoridated water supply. The data were secondary, from a sample of 888 children 5 to 12 years old enrolled in private and public schools. Caries was measured by the dmft and DMFT indices as well as the Care index. Qui-square and Mann-Whitney tests were utilized with 5% significance. In 5-year-old children, mean dmft was 2.50, and 42.20% were caries-free. At age 12, mean DMFT was 2.70 and 28.90% were caries-free. Caries prevalence rates in public schoolchildren as compared to private were 74.50% and 61.20%, respectively (p < 0.0001), and the dmft and DMFT scores were the highest in public schoolchildren (p < 0.05). The Care Index was higher in private schoolchildren (71.20%) as compared to public (52.80%). Highest caries rates were found among public schoolchildren, so the variable type of school proved sensitive for discriminating different oral health conditions; however limitations need to be recognized, suggesting that other variables should be assessed.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Odontologia Social, Faculdade de Odontologia de Piracicaba, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Piracicaba, Brasil.
authors.forename: Rosana Helena Schlittler
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Hoffmann
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cypriano
authors.forename: Maria da Luz Rosário de
authors.initials: Mda L
authors.lastname: Sousa
authors.forename: Ronaldo S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Wada
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004245:DMF Index; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005457:Fluoridation; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D017149:Private Sector; D017150:Public Sector; D012923:Social Class; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013334:Students