Abstract
Background"SOS teeth" are teeth that need to be treated first, and represent dental teeth with deep caries seen clinically and radiographically which may require root canal treatment or extraction. The aims of the present research were to study the associations of SOS teeth with: socio-demographic parameters, dental attendance patterns, health-related habits among young to middle-aged adults.MethodsThis cross-sectional records-based research analyzed data from the Dental, Oral, Medical Epidemiological (DOME) repository that captures comprehensive socio-demographic, medical, and dental databases of a nationwide sample of 132,529 records of dental attendees to military dental clinics for 1 year aged 18 to 50 years.ResultsSOS teeth had a significant positive association in the multivariate analysis with male sex [OR 1.137, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.079–1.199], rural versus urban Jewish locality [OR 1.748 (1.082–2.825)], and consumption of sweetened beverages [OR 1.415 (1.337–1.496)]. SOS teeth retained significant negative associations (protective parameter) with academic [OR 0.647 (0.592–0.708)] and technicians (OR 0.616 (0.556–0.682)] compared to high school education, high [OR 0.437 (0.401–0.476)], and medium (OR 0.648 (0.598–0.702)] versus low socio-economic status, urban non-Jewish versus urban Jewish locality [OR 0.746 (0.693–0.802)], Asia (OR 0.658 (0.452–0.959)], North America (OR 0.539 (0.442–0.658)] and Israel [OR 0.735 (0.686–0.788)] versus western Europe birth countries.ConclusionsHealth authorities should be familiar with this profile of the patient who is vulnerable to SOS teeth and formulate policies and allow the appropriate implementation of strategies in those in high-risk populations.
Highlights
Dental caries is a ubiquitous disease, affecting upwards of 35% of the global population, across all cultures, economic status, sex, and races [1]
All dental data is documented in the Dental Patient Record (DPR), the medical data is recorded in the Clinical Patient Record (CPR), and the sociodemographic is kept in the central demographic database [15]
The associations of SOS teeth with socio‐demographic characteristics SOS teeth were analyzed according to socio-demographic parameters using independent t-test and Analysis of variance (ANOVA) analysis (Table 1) and post hoc Bonferroni tests (Tables 2 and 3) for categorial parameters, and Pearson’s correlation for continuous parameters
Summary
Dental caries is a ubiquitous disease, affecting upwards of 35% of the global population, across all cultures, economic status, sex, and races [1]. Despite a decline in Abramovitz et al BMC Oral Health (2021) 21:389 caries rates in certain European and American countries, the global burden of caries reported that in 2010, untreated caries in permanent teeth was the most prevalent condition worldwide, affecting 2.4 billion people [1]. The Decayed Missing Filled (DMF) Surfaces/Teeth index is the most widely used tool in epidemiological studies [3]. It does not differentiate between the different stages of caries, making it impossible to plan and adopt effective strategies for disease control [4, 5]. While the DMFT index does not contribute data on the clinical consequences of untreated dental caries, which include involvement of the pulp [6], the SOS teeth provide this information. According to the protocol developed by Klein and colleagues [8] and modified by the World Health Organization [3], DMF is clinically examined in epidemiological studies using an explorer, mirror, and gauze, without X-ray imaging
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