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. 2020 Sep 24;10(1):15622.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-72403-x.

Caries severity and socioeconomic inequalities in a nationwide setting: data from the Italian National pathfinder in 12-years children

Guglielmo Campus  1   2 , Fabio Cocco  3 , Laura Strohmenger  4 , Maria Grazia Cagetti  4
Affiliations

Caries severity and socioeconomic inequalities in a nationwide setting: data from the Italian National pathfinder in 12-years children

Guglielmo Campus et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

This study presents the result of the second National pathfinder conducted in Italy on children's oral health, reporting the prevalence and severity of caries in 12-year old children and describing the caries figure related to the socioeconomic inequalities, both at individual level and macroeconomic level. The two-digit codes related to ICDAS (International Caries Detection and Assessment System) for each tooth and the gingival bleeding score were recorded at school on 7,064 children (48.97% males and 51.03% females). The Gross National Product (GNP) per capita, the Gini Index and Unemployment rate in each Italian section, parents' educational levels, working status, smoking habit and their ethnic background were recorded. Zero-inflated-negative-binomial (ZINB) models were run, using caries-free teeth, teeth with enamel lesions, cavitated lesions and restorations as functions of socioeconomic explanatory variables, to evaluate the effects of justifiable economic factors of geographical distribution. The mean number of enamel lesions, cavitated lesions and filled per teeth were statistically significant (p < 0.01) dissimilar among the Italian section. GNP per capita, Gini Index and Unemployment rate were significantly correlated to ICDAS scores and filled teeth. Important differences in ICDAS score values remain among children from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Efforts should be made to improve awareness and knowledge regarding oral health practice and to implement preventive programs and access to dental services in Southern Italy where the disease is still unresolved.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Prevalence distribution of ICDAS scores and Filled teeth (%) by Italian sections (95% CIs in parentheses); figure created with Adobe Adobe Creative Cloud by one of the author base previous publication.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Regression analysis: caries-free teeth (ICDAS = 0), enamel lesions (ICDAS = 1/2), cavitated lesions (ICDAS5/6) and filled teeth compared to GNP per capita by Italian sections.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Regression analysis: caries-free teeth (ICDAS = 0), enamel lesions (ICDAS = 1/2), cavitated lesions (ICDAS5/6) and filled teeth compared to Gini Index by Italian sections.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Regression analysis: caries-free teeth (ICDAS = 0), enamel lesions (ICDAS = 1/2), cavitated lesions (ICDAS5/6) and filled teeth compared to Unemployment rate by Italian sections.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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