Parity & untreated dental caries in US women

Abstract

While parity (number of children) reportedly is related to tooth loss, the relationship between parity and dental caries has not been extensively investigated. We used path analysis to test a theoretical model that specified that parity influences dental caries levels through dental care, psycho- social factors, and dental health damaging behaviors in 2635 women selected from the NHANES III dataset. We found that while increased parity was not associated with a greater level of total caries (DFS), parity was related to untreated dental caries (DS). The mechanisms by which parity is related to caries, however, remain undefined. Further investigation is warranted to determine if disparities in dental caries among women are due to differences in parity and the likely changes that parallel these reproductive choices.

Figure 1.

Dental caries (filled, decayed surfaces) by parity level, Black and White US women ages 18-64 yrs, NHANES III, n = 2365.

Figure 2.

Path diagrams, parity, and dental caries, Black and White US women ages 18-64 yrs, NHANES III. (A) Path model for filled surfaces. Model controlled for: race, age, and time since last live birth; *p ≤ 0.05, **p ≤ 0.01, ***p ≤ 0.001. (B) Path model for decayed surfaces. Model controlled for: race, age, and time since last live birth; **p ≤ 0.01, ***p ≤ 0.001.