Dental pain in Maryland school children.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the lifetime prevalence of dental pain among Maryland's school age children.


METHODS
Data come from the Survey of Oral Health Status of Maryland School Children conducted in 2000-01. History of dental pain, as reported by an adult respondent, was analyzed for 2,411 kindergarten and third grade students. Percentages with their 95% confidence interval were calculated to obtain state representation of the distribution of dental pain by sociodemographic characteristics and caries status.


RESULTS
Overall, 11.8 percent of Maryland school age children in kindergarten and third grade have had some dental pain. Among children who have had caries, the report of dental pain increases to 28.2 percent. Children from families with low educational attainment or eligible for free or reduced meals or covered by Medicaid were more likely to have experienced dental pain.


CONCLUSIONS
Almost a third of Maryland kindergartens and third graders who have caries have experienced dental pain.
Vargas
Clemencia M
CM
Department of Health Promotion and Policy, University of Maryland Dental School, 666 West Baltimore Street, Room 3-E-11, Baltimore, Maryland 20201-1586, USA. cmv001@dental.umaryland.edu
Macek
Mark D
MD
Goodman
Harold S
HS
Wagner
Mark L
ML
D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology; D003753:Dental Health Surveys; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008396:Maryland / Q000453:epidemiology; D014098:Toothache / Q000453:epidemiology*