Disparities in oral health of children in Tehran, Iran.
OBJECTIVE
This was to investigate the association between parents' educational level and oral health of Iranian primary school children.


METHODS
Data came from the voluntary clinical examination in 2005 of a random sample of 459 third-year primary school children in the 16 schools in Tehran, together with a self-administered questionnaire regarding information on the educational level of the parents. The study used the dmft/DMFT values for dental status, and the CPI, and PI to assess periodontal condition.


METHODS
One-way ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests were used.


RESULTS
The mean dmft value was 4.2 (SD+2.9) in boys and 3.4 (SD+2.6) in girls for the whole study group. The children of the low education parents had more dental caries than those of high education parents in both primary (p<0.01) and in permanent teeth (p<0.05). A strong association was found between high parental education and restorations in primary teeth (p<0.001), but only a trend for restorations in permanent teeth. Mean number of sextants with a CPI score 0 was significantly associated with parents' educational level (p<0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
The disparities in the oral health of children need to be considered when developing oral health promotion programmes.
Saied-Moallemi
Z
Z
Institute of Dentistry, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Virtanen
J I
JI
Tehranchi
A
A
Murtomaa
H
H
D002648:Child; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003753:Dental Health Surveys; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009909:Oral Health; D009910:Oral Hygiene; D010290:Parents; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors