Oral health and risk factors for dental caries of low-income scholars enrolled in a full-time study program

Resumo

This study aimed to identify the oral health conditions and risk factors for caries in children enrolled in a public educational program that are in a full-time study program. Data were collected from parents and children aged 3-12 years that were enrolled in the shelter, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The parents answered a questionnaire with socio-demographic, oral hygiene, habits and diet information and the children underwent clinical examinations. Tests were used to associate children’s caries with parents education level; socioeconomic status; dental biofilm; hypoplasia, gingival bleeding and malocclusion. Thirty-eight parents attended the interview. The predominant caregivers were mothers with a high school complete degree and belonging to low income family. From a sample of 350, 84 children (7.27±2.22 years) were examined during nine months. Most of these children were boys (58.3%) in the mixed dentition (69%) and without caries (61.9%). According to caries index, the highest average was found in the primary dentition (1.20±2.12) while the DMF-T was 0.35±0.86. Biofilm, hypoplasia, gingival bleeding and malocclusion were not associated with caries (p>0.05). The socioeconomics determinants and the risk factors were not considered predisposing factors for caries, which suggest that educational programs of full-time study exerts a positive influence on children’s oral health.