Dental caries experience of schoolchildren of two different oral health care delivery systems.
OBJECTIVE
To report on the dental caries experience in schoolchildren from a region with a needs-based dental service compared with a region with a demand-led dental service.


METHODS
Cross-sectional study with clustered sampling.


METHODS
Urban primary schools in Dublin (Ireland) and Freiburg (Germany).


METHODS
12-year-old schoolchildren.


METHODS
A trained and calibrated dentist examined a representative, random sample of schoolchildren under the same standardised conditions. Social class was recorded using the 'Goldthorpe-Social-Class-Schema'. Dental caries was recorded using WHO criteria.


RESULTS
Atotal of 567 schoolchildren were examined, 332 in Ireland and 249 in Germany. For Ireland the mean DMFT in SC-1 (highest social class) was 0.28, in SC-2 (middle social class) it was 1.1 and in SC-3 (lowest social class) it was 0.94. For Germany the mean DMFT in SC-1 was 0.31, in SC-2 it was 0.61 and in SC-3 it was 1.33.


CONCLUSIONS
This study demonstrated the existence of social gradients in dental caries levels in both samples but the magnitude of the difference varied across the two populations and appeared to be smaller in the needs-based dental service.
Sagheri
Darius
D
Department of Public and Child Dental Health, Dublin Dental School and Hospital, Trinity College, Republic of Ireland. darius.sagheri@dental.tcd.ie
Wassmer
Gernot
G
Hahn
Petra
P
McLoughlin
Jacinta
J
D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004245:DMF Index; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D007494:Ireland / Q000453:epidemiology; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012923:Social Class; D014505:Urban Population