The relation between family socioeconomic trajectories from childhood to adolescence and dental caries and associated oral behaviours.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the influence of family socioeconomic trajectories from childhood to adolescence on dental caries and associated behaviours.


METHODS
Population-based birth cohort.


METHODS
Representative sample of the population of subjects born in 1982 in Pelotas, Brazil.


METHODS
Adolescents (n = 888) aged 15 years old were dentally examined and interviewed.


METHODS
Dental caries index (DMFT), care index (F/DMFT), tooth brushing, flossing and pattern of dental services use.


RESULTS
Adolescents who were always poor showed, in general, a worse pattern of dental caries, whereas adolescents who never were poor had a better pattern of dental caries. Adolescents who had moved from poverty in childhood to non-poverty in adolescence and those who had moved from non-poverty in childhood to poverty in adolescence had similar dental pattern to those who were always poor except for the pattern of dental services use, which was higher in the first group. In all groups girls had fewer carious teeth, better oral hygiene habits and higher dental services use than boys.


CONCLUSIONS
Poverty in at least one stage of the lifespan has a harmful effect on dental caries, oral behaviours and dental services use. Belonging to upwardly mobile families between childhood and adolescence only contributed to improved dental care.
Peres
Marco Aurélio
MA
Department of Public Health, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, SC, Brazil. mperes@ccs.ufsc.br
Peres
Karen Glazer
KG
de Barros
Aluísio Jardim Dornellas
AJ
Victora
Cesar Gomes
CG
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D001938:Brazil; D002182:Candy; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D003753:Dental Health Surveys; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D009910:Oral Hygiene; D011203:Poverty; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012937:Social Mobility; D014099:Toothbrushing