Influence of Social Mobility on Untreated Dental Caries at Age 4: Intergenerational and Intragenerational Analysis

This study aimed to describe the prevalence of untreated dental caries in early childhood based on intergenerational socioeconomic data and to evaluate the association between intragenerational socioeconomic mobility data and untreated dental caries in children aged 4.

This is a longitudinal study. Data from three birth cohorts in Pelotas (1982, 1993, and 2015) were used. Data from three generations participating in these cohorts were evaluated. Untreated dental caries in childhood (2015 cohort) was considered the dependent variable. Family income and schooling were independent variables. The social mobility variable was categorized considering income and level of schooling data in the mothers' generation. Poisson regression was performed to estimate prevalence ratios (PRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs).

A total of 286 pairs of children and mothers/grandmothers were evaluated for the intergenerational sample (1982 and 1993 cohorts), and 3,633 mothers and children for the intragenerational sample (2015 cohort). In the intergenerational analysis, there was a reduction of about 10 percentage points in the prevalence of untreated caries in children from families that experienced upward/downward income mobility compared to children whose generations remained with lower income. In the intragenerational analysis, children belonging to the ascending/descending economic mobility groups had twice the prevalence of untreated dental caries compared to those always with higher salaries (PR 2.04; 95% CI 1.52-2.71 and PR 2.07; 95% CI 1.56-2.74, respectively).

Findings demonstrate an association between untreated dental caries in children and family socioeconomic status, including their mothers' income/education mobility. Thus, intervening in early childhood socioeconomic conditions is needed to improve children's oral health.