A comparison of caries rates in non-institutionalized individuals with and without Down syndrome

The caries rate of people with Down syndrome (DS) was compared to an age-matched control population without DS. A cross-sectional study design was used. Caries rates were assessed by an adjusted DFT score, expressed as a proportion of number of teeth in the mouth, to control for hypodontia in the subjects with DS. Bivariate and multiple linear regression analyses were used to compare caries rates in persons with and without DS. The sample size was 128, in which 44 were subjects with DS and 84 were subjects without DS. On a range of 0-1, the mean adjusted DFT scores were 0.10 in subjects with DS and 0.18 in the control group. Although this difference was significant at the bivariate level of analysis, in the multiple linear regression model, adjusted DFT was associated with age and professional fluoride therapy only. When expressed as a proportion of number of teeth, caries rates were not different in people with and without DS.