Oral health status of a federal prison population

The purpose of this study was to describe the prevalence of decayed, missing, and filled teeth among federal male prisoners (aged 21-75) in the US Penitentiary. Leavenworth, Kansas, and to assess the impact of age, race, number of years incarcerated, and number of visits to the prison dentist on these parameters of oral health. Inmates (n = 191) were randomly selected and represented 16.4 percent of the prison population (N = 1,161). Two calibrated examiners collected caries and tooth loss data using NIDR criteria. No radiographs were taken. Results showed a mean DMFT of 12.9 for inmates aged 20-34, 16.4 for inmates aged 35- 44, and 22.1 for inmates aged 45 and older. Whites had significantly fewer decayed teeth (P less than .05) than black inmates for ages 20-34. The number of missing teeth increased significantly (P less than .01) with inmate age. Proportion edentulous (both arches) was 5.2 percent for ages 35 to 44, 17.3 percent for ages 45-54, and 45.5 percent for ages 55 to 75. Cross tabulations and chi-square analyses showed that inmates incarcerated less than two years had a significantly (P less than .001) lower utilization rate of dental services, and that inmates who made greater use of available dental services had fewer decayed teeth than those with lower utilization rates.