Association of Individual and Contextual Factors for Protection from Dental Caries

Dental caries remains a global challenge, with high prevalence among five-year-old children and regional inequalities. The aim of this study is to identify factors associated with protection from dental caries in five-year-old children, using Salutogenic Theory as a reference.

Secondary data were analyzed from the Minas Gerais Oral Health Survey. Five-year-old children (n = 1193) were examined. Parents or guardians answered a questionnaire addressing individual variables and the use of dental services. Dependent variables were the absence of caries activity (ACA) and absence of caries experience (ACE), which were extracted from the decayed-missing-filled primary teeth (dmft) index. Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals for each block of variables on the hierarchical levels. The Complex Samples module of the SPSS 19.0 program was used.

Five hundred ninety-five children (50.5%) in the overall sample were caries-free. In the final model, white skin color, monthly family income greater than R$1500, having more than six material goods, and not visiting a dentist in the previous year were associated with ACA and ACE.

Factors related to socioeconomic conditions were associated with protection from dental caries in early childhood, supporting equity-based public policies to increase the number of children not affected by caries.