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Determinants of dental prosthetic treatment need: A birth cohort study
Luiz Alexandre Chisini1, Hugo Ramalho Sarmento1, Kauê Collares1
1Graduate Program in Dentistry, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil.
Objectives:
To estimate the incidence of the need for a dental prosthesis during early adulthood and its association with socioeconomic and oral disorder trajectories.
Methods:
In 1982, in the city of Pelotas, all live births (n = 5914) and their mothers were assessed. A representative sample of this cohort study was examined for oral health conditions at 15, 24 and 31 years (Oral Health Study-OHS). The need for a dental prosthesis was assessed at 24 and 31 years of age, and variables of interest (gender, skin colour, socioeconomic status (SES), use of dental services, caries and periodontal disease) were collected from different waves of this cohort. Longitudinal association between outcome and variables of interest was assessed using multilevel mixed models.
Results:
A total of 539 individuals were assessed in 2013 (60.7% response rate). The need for a dental prosthesis was 28.9% at 24 years. (95% CI 24.9-33.2) and 49.0% at 31 years (95% CI 44.7-53.3). Risk of presenting with a need for a dental prosthesis was higher in users of public services. Downwardly mobile and lower SES trajectory groups presented a higher risk of the need for a dental prosthesis. High-risk caries trajectory group showed a higher risk of presenting with the need for a dental prosthesis from 24 to 31 years.
Conclusions:
Our findings demonstrate that the need for dental prosthesis from 24 to 31 years old was determined by trajectories of exposure during the life cycle, reinforcing that tackling socioeconomic inequalities at any stage of life can have an effect on an individual's oral health.
