title: Prevalence of dental caries and dental care utilisation in preschool urban children enrolled in a comparative-effectiveness study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess dental caries prevalence and dental care utilisation in pre-school children enrolled in urban childcare centres that participated in a comparative effectiveness study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Caries prevalence was determined in a cohort of children 12-60 months of age. Eligible children were randomised into two groups: group one received a traditional visual/tactile oral examination and group two received a teledentistry examination. Questionnaires were administered to the children's parents/guardians to gather demographics and information about using dental and medical services.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 234 children examined, approximately 28% had caries experience. The mean dfs score was 1.56 with a range of 0-34 carious surfaces. The mean dfs score for the children examined by means of teledentistry was 1.75 and for the children examined by means of the traditional visual/tactile method mean dfs was 1.40; the means between the two groups were not significantly different. Twenty-six children showed evidence of being treated for dental caries. According to the parents, 31.5% of the children had never had a dental check-up before, only 3% of the children were lacking dental insurance and majority of the parents (92%) did not perceive accessing dental care for the children as a problem.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Wilcoxon Mann-Whitney test and the Kruskal-Wallis test were used to assess statistical differences among groups of children.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The data showed that 28% of the children had caries and, of these, 61% had never been treated for caries, thus indicating that continued efforts are needed to improve oral health care utilisation by inner-city preschool children.
authors.affiliation: University of Rochester, Eastman Institute for Oral Health, 625 Elmwood Ave, Box 683, Rochester, NY 14620, USA. Dorota_KopyckaKedzierawski@URMC.Rochester.edu
authors.forename: D T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Kopycka-Kedzierawski
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Billings
mesh_terms: D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004245:DMF Index; D003729:Dental Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009518:New York / Q000453:epidemiology; D010290:Parents; D011204:Poverty Areas; D015995:Prevalence; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013688:Telepathy