The oral health of South Asian five-year-old children in deprived areas of Dudley compared with White children of equal deprivation and fluoridation status

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the oral health of five-year-old children from South Asian ethnic groups and compare this with White children of equal deprivation and fluoridation status.

Design: An epidemiological survey of five-year-old children in Dudley was carried out as part of the 1996 BASCD co-ordinated programme but with the collection of additional variables (ethnic classification and postcode of residence).

Clinical setting: The examinations were carried out in schools in Dudley, England.

Participants: Five hundred and fifty-four five-year-old children living in neighbourhoods with an ACORN code F (striving) and attending schools in the fluoridated part of Dudley.

Main outcome measures: Disease levels were measured using the dmft index. Caries was diagnosed at the caries into dentine (d3) threshold using a visual method without radiography or fibre-optic transillumination.

Results: The prevalence of dental caries, particularly untreated caries, was higher in South Asian children. There was no difference in the intensity or pattern of disease between the two groups when comparing those children with disease experience.

Conclusions: Dental caries experience in young children continues to be associated with ethnicity once the data are controlled for deprivation and fluoridation status.