Impacte del nivell socioeconòmic en la salut bucodental dels infants i adolescents: revisió bibliogràfica

Abstract

Introduction: The most prevalent oral pathology worldwide is tooth decay. It is a non-contagious disease involving different factors: diet, oral hygiene, dental morphology, presence of fluoride compounds, among others. Its prevention is highly effective and has been scientifically proven. Many countries have implemented promotion, prevention and treatment policies for the child population but their distribution accumulates in the most disadvantaged. The socio-economic level has been postulated as a very related social determinant. Objective: Review studies on the association of the socio-economic level with the oral health of children in permanent dentition, mainly with prevalence, epidemiological indices of decay experience in permanent dentition (DMFT) and fillings (F). Methodology: A systematic bibliographic review published from 2010 was carried out and the most relevant articles were selected, deepening in more detail in 8 studies from different countries around the world. Results: The most studied socio-economic variables refer to family income and to parent’s education and employment. The parameters used were heterogeneous among the studies. All the results collected statistically significant associations for all or most of the dental variables. The lowest family’s socioeconomic level determined low level of oral health respect the highest ones. Conclusions: The socioeconomic level determines children oral health with regard to the experience of caries and also its treatment. The most-advantaged families get better oral health index. Education seems to be a key determinant in reducing the social gradient in the child population that state-wide programs over the world have not managed to eliminate