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Updated: Jun 26, 2025

Oral Health Assessment by Lay Personnel for Older Adults
Published on: February 2, 2020
Association between more complex special care needs and overweight status and adolescents' difficulty with dental
Vinodh Bhoopathi1, Christine Wells2, Gina Tripicchio3
1Section of Public and Population Oral Health, University of California at Los Angeles School of Dentistry, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Objective:
Little is known about dental caries experience in adolescents with overweight and complex special health care needs (SHCNs).
Methods:
Adolescent data (10-17 years) from the 2016-2020 National Survey of Children's Health (n = 91,196) was analyzed. The sample was grouped into the following: more complex SHCN and overweight, more complex SHCN without overweight, less complex SHCN and overweight, less complex SHCN without overweight, no SHCN but with overweight, and neither SHCN nor overweight. A multivariable-adjusted logistic regression model was conducted.
Results:
Adolescents with more complex SHCNs with (OR: 1.82, 95% CI: 1.44-2.30, p < 0.001) or without overweight (OR: 1.51, 95% CI: 1.30-1.76, p < 0.001) were at higher odds of experiencing dental caries compared to healthy adolescents. No significant associations were observed between adolescents with less complex or no SHCN regardless of the overweight status with healthy adolescents.
Conclusions:
Adolescents with more complex SHCNs, irrespective of overweight status, experienced a higher caries severity than adolescents with no SHCNs or overweight.
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