Dental Caries Experience in Institutionalized Mongoloid and Nonmongoloid Children in North Carolina and Oregon

¹ Oregon State Board of Health, Portland, Oregon, and School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

A mathematical model was devised for analyzing the results of two DMF surveys in institutionalized mongoloid and nonmongoloid children (7 to 20 years old) in North Carolina and Oregon. The model provided estimates of relative differences in DMF teeth between subgroups of children after adjustment for differences in age and other characteristics. All variables in the model accounted for 46 per cent of the variation in relative differences in DMF teeth of children in this study. The model was limited, however, in that it did not explicitly take account of the period of exposure of teeth. A large proportion of the lower DMF mean in mongoloid children was due to age and delayed eruption of teeth. When adjusted for state, sex, age, and number of erupted teeth, mongoloid children had only 74 per cent as many DMF teeth as nonmongoloid children.

Other analytical results for the study, using the mathematical model, can be summarized:

1. When adjusted for state, diagnosis, age, and number of erupted teeth, males had only 87 per cent as many DMF teeth as females.

2. When adjusted for sex, age, number of erupted teeth, and diagnosis, North Carolina children had 18 per cent more DMF teeth than Oregon children.

3. Both age and number of erupted teeth were significant predictors of the number of DMF teeth.

4. The correlation between age and number of erupted teeth ranged between 0.8 and 0.9 in the eight subgroups.

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