Factors of deprivation associated with dental caries in young children

Quantitative and qualitative data were collected on the communities in the Tameside and Glossop Health Authority district served by the five primary schools with the highest prevalences of dental caries among their 5-year-old children and contrasted with similar information from communities served by five schools whose 5-year-old pupils had the lowest prevalences of caries. Quantitative data were collected from a variety of sources including the health and education authorities, and qualitative information was gathered by interviewing health and education personnel with special knowledge of the primary and pre-school children involved. It was found that communities with a high caries activity among their primary school children had lower proportions of babies of normal birth weight and uptake of poliomyelitis vaccination, while more children were born to single parent families. They also had lower percentages of private housing, homes with a car and households in social classes 1 and 2. The high caries schools had more children receiving clothing allowances and free school meals. The communities they served had higher Townsend mean deprivation Z scores and lower percentages of crime rates per household. The high caries communities tended to bottle feed their babies, wean them earlier, use infant feeding bottles longer and give babies fruit juices more regularly. The parents in the high caries communities were reported to have higher proportions of social and financial problems, were less likely to form parent-teacher associations, their children had poorer attendance and punctuality records, worse behaviour and greater consumption of confectionery after school.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)