Effects of Community Water Fluoridation on Dental Caries Disparities in Adolescents

Go Matsuo, Jun Aida, Ken Osaka and Richard Gary Rozier
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Go Matsuo: Department of International and Community Oral Health, Tohoku University Graduate School of Dentistry, Sendai 9800872, Miyagi, Japan
Jun Aida: Department of International and Community Oral Health, Tohoku University Graduate School of Dentistry, Sendai 9800872, Miyagi, Japan
Ken Osaka: Department of International and Community Oral Health, Tohoku University Graduate School of Dentistry, Sendai 9800872, Miyagi, Japan
Richard Gary Rozier: Department of Health Policy and Management, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7400, USA

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 6, 1-11

Abstract: Despite improvements in the prevalence of dental caries, disparities are still observed globally and in the U.S. This study examined whether community water fluoridation (CWF) reduced dental caries disparities in permanent teeth of 10- to 19-year-old schoolchildren in North Carolina. We used cross-sectional data representing K-12 schoolchildren in North Carolina (NC) public schools. A poisson regression model was used to determine whether the association between children’s parental educational attainment and the prevalence of dental caries of children differed by children’s lifetime CWF exposure. We analyzed data on 2075 students. Among the children without any CWF exposure in their life, statistically significant caries disparities by parental educational attainment were observed. Compared to the children of parents with more than high school education, the relative risk for those with a parent with a high school education was 1.16 (95% CI = 1.01, 1.33) and those with less than a high school education was 1.27 (95% CI = 1.02, 1.60). In contrast, these disparities were not observed among children exposed to CWF throughout their lives. Socioeconomic disparities in dental caries were not observed among 10–19-year-old schoolchildren with lifetime CWF exposure. CWF seemed to reduce dental caries disparities.

Keywords: oral health; dental caries; prevention; health disparities; community water fluoridation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:6:p:2020-:d:334200

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