The Relationship Between Aging and Oral Health Inequalities Assessed by the Dmft Index Pubmed



Eslamipour F¹ ; Borzabadifarahani A^{1, 2} ; Asgari I¹ Show Affiliations
Source: European Journal of Paediatric Dentistry Published:2010

Abstract

Aim A cross-sectional study to determine the cariesexperience characteristics and their relationship with aging.Materials and methods Using stratified sampling method,748 subjects divided into 3 age groups of 11-14, 14-17 and17-20 year-olds (355 females and 393 males, aged 15.11 ±2.23 years) were examined in urban area of Isfahan (Iran). TheDMFT scores (DT, MT, FT) were recorded. The Student t-testwas used to assess any differences in the mean DMFT scorebetween genders. Simple (DMFT >0), severe caries experience(DMFT >8), severe form of filling (FT>3), and decay (DT>6)were calculated. Chi-square tests were performed to assessany relationship between gender and DMFT variables. Binarylogistic regression was used to estimate the predictive valueof gender and age groups for the DMFT categoriesdichotomized into presence or absence of DMFT-relatedvariable. Scatter plots and Spearman rank correlationcoefficients were used to explore the relationships betweenthe DMFT (DT, MT, FT) and participant's age.Results The mean DMFT values for the sample, 11-14, 14-17 and 17-20 year-olds were 4.94, 3.03, 5 and 6.66,respectively. Caries prevalence (DMFT >0) and active cariesprevalence (DT >0) were 88.8 and 81.8 percent, respectively.Prevalence of active caries (DT) did not vary significantlybetween genders; however, prevalence of fillings (FT) washigher in females (OR=1.96, 95% CI, 1.45-2.67). The odds ofexperiencing caries (DMFT, DT, FT) increased with increase inparticipant's age. Prevalence of subjects with DT>6 washigher in males than in females (OR=1.50, 95% CI, 1.04-2.01). Prevalence of subjects with FT>3 was higher in femalesthan in males (OR=1.74, 95% CI, 1.10-2.73). Significantpositive correlations existed between the participant's ageand DMFT (rho = 0.40), DT (rho = 0.34) and FT scores (rho =0.194), respectively.Conclusion Caries experience was highly prevalent in oursample. With increase in age, there was an upward trend incaries prevalence and mean DMFT.