Caries prevalence in northwest Michigan migrant children

The purpose of this study was to describe the prevalence of dental caries in a sample of Hispanic-American migrant workers' children and compare the results with an earlier Northwest Michigan migrant study to assess if migrant children have benefited from the global caries decline.

A non-probability convenience sample of migrant farm worker children was obtained from migrant schools in Northwest Michigan during the summer of 1999. Field dental equipment was used to examine caries, fluorosis, and urgent dental needs by 1 examiner. Statistical analysis was performed using SAS software with the student t-test used to test for differences between the samples. Intra-examiner reliability was high for caries at the surface level (kappa = 0.94).

The sample consisted of 211 children with 95% ranging in ages from 5 to 13. Mean caries levels were as follows: DMFT = 1.1 (SD 1.6); DMFS = 1.6 (SD 2.5); dft = 3.0 (SD 2.9); dfs = 6.3 (SD 6.7) Fifty percent of children with at least 1 permanent tooth (189) were caries free, with 17% (34) having DMFT values greater than or equal to 3. The large number of caries-free children displayed a skewed distribution of caries where a small proportion of the population harbored the majority of the disease. A statistically significant decrease in caries was evident in permanent teeth (P = .0001) between 1999 and 1982 samples, but no change was realized in primary teeth (P = .7).

Results indicated that the caries decline has extended to this long-neglected migrant group, but only in the permanent dentition. Caries remained moderate to high in the primary dentition and the caries burden was carried by a relatively small segment of the population. Dental treatment programs should be expanded to include preschool children who appear to be at the highest risk for caries.