title: Oral health status and access-to-care concerns of Suffolk County Head Start children.
abstract: This study was undertaken to establish the caries prevalence in Head Start/Early Head Start children among the non-fluoridate community of Suffolk County, Long Island, and to elicit access-to-oral-health-care issues that are present for these children. Three hundred five parents completed questionnaire surveys about access-to-care issues at Suffolk County Head Start centers. Two hundred sixteen Suffolk County Head Start children ages 2 to 5 were screened for this study. The average DMFT (decayed, missing, filled teeth) across all children screened was 2.01. Fifty-four percent of parents reported that their children received dental care in the last two years. Twenty-four percent of children who received dental care reported having access-to-care issues. Of the parents who encountered such issues, the most prevalent one stated was, "We could not find a dentist to accept our insurance." The authors concluded that there is a heightened prevalence of early childhood caries in the Head Start/Early Head Start population of Suffolk County, Long Island. There are high levels of underutilized dental care in this population. The parents in this community have reported there are access-to-care issues present that may result in high levels of dental disease.
authors.affiliation: Stony Brook University School of Dental Medicine, NY, USA. erickmg@alumni.upenn.edu
authors.forename: Erick
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Goldberg
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: Fred
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ferguson
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004245:DMF Index; D003729:Dental Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003815:Dentists / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018479:Early Intervention, Educational / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009518:New York / Q000453:epidemiology; D009909:Oral Health; D015995:Prevalence; D016079:Refusal to Treat / Q000706:statistics & numerical data