Dental Caries, Oral Health Behavior, and Living Conditions in 6–8-Year-Old Romanian School Children
Ramona Dumitrescu,
Ruxandra Sava-Rosianu,
Daniela Jumanca,
Octavia Balean,
Lia-Raluca Damian,
Guglielmo Giuseppe Campus,
Laurentiu Maricutoiu,
Vlad Tiberiu Alexa,
Ruxandra Sfeatcu,
Constantin Daguci,
Mariana Postolache,
Atena Galuscan
Affiliations
Ramona Dumitrescu
Translational and Experimental Clinical Research Centre in Oral Health, Department of Preventive, Community Dentistry and Oral Health, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Victor Babes”, 300040 Timisoara, Romania
Ruxandra Sava-Rosianu
Translational and Experimental Clinical Research Centre in Oral Health, Department of Preventive, Community Dentistry and Oral Health, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Victor Babes”, 300040 Timisoara, Romania
Daniela Jumanca
Translational and Experimental Clinical Research Centre in Oral Health, Department of Preventive, Community Dentistry and Oral Health, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Victor Babes”, 300040 Timisoara, Romania
Octavia Balean
Translational and Experimental Clinical Research Centre in Oral Health, Department of Preventive, Community Dentistry and Oral Health, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Victor Babes”, 300040 Timisoara, Romania
Lia-Raluca Damian
Translational and Experimental Clinical Research Centre in Oral Health, Department of Preventive, Community Dentistry and Oral Health, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Victor Babes”, 300040 Timisoara, Romania
Guglielmo Giuseppe Campus
Department of Restorative, Preventive and Pediatric Dentistry, University of Bern, Freiburgstrasse 7, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
Laurentiu Maricutoiu
Department of Psychology, West University of Timisoara, 300223 Timisoara, Romania
Vlad Tiberiu Alexa
Translational and Experimental Clinical Research Centre in Oral Health, Department of Preventive, Community Dentistry and Oral Health, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Victor Babes”, 300040 Timisoara, Romania
Ruxandra Sfeatcu
Oral Health and Community Dentistry Department, Faculty of Dental Medicine, UMP “Carol Davila”, 020021 Bucharest, Romania
Constantin Daguci
Department of Oral Health, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 200585 Craiova, Romania
Mariana Postolache
Department of Program Implementation and Coordination, Romanian Ministry of Health, 010024 Bucharest, Romania
Atena Galuscan
Translational and Experimental Clinical Research Centre in Oral Health, Department of Preventive, Community Dentistry and Oral Health, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Victor Babes”, 300040 Timisoara, Romania
Dental caries still have a high prevalence in Romania. The aim of this paper is to determine the prevalence of caries in children (aged 6 to 8 years) correlated with individual-level predictors and socio-economic variables. A stratified, randomized nationally representative sample was established, taking into consideration the total number of preschool children and based on administrative units and residence. Self-assessment was performed by means of the Oral Health Questionnaire for Children (WHO). Examinations were conducted by 10 standardized examiners, with International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS) caries codes higher than 3 considered as dentinal caries, missing teeth as MT, and restorations as FT. DMFT and SiC indexes were calculated accordingly. The dataset for each outcome variable was analyzed by the Hurdle approach analyzed. The gender distribution was similar (47.22% male and 52.78% female), with 42.65% residing in rural areas. The mean DMFT value for the sample was 4.89 and SiC index 9.83. A negative association could be seen between DMFT and the father’s level of education (β = −0.33, SE = 0.07, p p < 0.01). In conclusion, caries prevalence is very high in Romania as compared to the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation for this age group in correlation with socio-economic factors and oral health behavior.
