Relevance of social and behavioral factors in the evaluation of dental health care for school children.

Abstract

An interdisciplinary strategy based on a theoretical model for studying dental health was used to analyze the relevance of social and behavioral factors in the evaluation of dental health care for school children. The study comprised pupils who, after a total period of 5 years, differed in their experience with preventive regimens applying different principles of dental prevention. In 1979-80 social and behavioral data were collected by means of a postal questionnaire from altogether 234 pupils, aged 15-16 years, from two school areas. Clinical data, comprising scores for prevalence of plaque, gingivitis, and caries, were available from examinations in 1974, 1978, and 1979. The analysis of factors influencing the subjects' oral status demonstrated that material factors--the parents' education and employment, type of housing, and line of education--and physical factors--sex and prevalence of plaque, gingivitis, and caries at base line--all were of significance for the results obtained. No significant influence of home care climate (social/political factors), dental knowledge and attitudes, general foresightedness or carelessness (mental factors), or tooth-cleaning and sweet-eating habits (action factors) was found. Social and behavioral factors of significance exerted their influence regardless of the type and scope of the dental health care provided. Gingival health was far more a consequence of the professional tooth-cleaning regimen than dependent on the social and behavioral factors tested. No superior effect on caries status was demonstrated for any of the preventive regimens tested.