Chaffin Jeffrey G, Pai Satish Chandra S, Bagramian Robert A
Columbia School of Dentistry, New York, NY, USA.
J Dent Child (Chic). 2003 May-Aug;70(2):124-9.
The purpose of this study was to describe the prevalence of dental caries in a sample of Hispanic-American migrant workers' children and compare the results with an earlier Northwest Michigan migrant study to assess if migrant children have benefited from the global caries decline.
A non-probability convenience sample of migrant farm worker children was obtained from migrant schools in Northwest Michigan during the summer of 1999. Field dental equipment was used to examine caries, fluorosis, and urgent dental needs by 1 examiner. Statistical analysis was performed using SAS software with the student t-test used to test for differences between the samples. Intra-examiner reliability was high for caries at the surface level (kappa = 0.94).
The sample consisted of 211 children with 95% ranging in ages from 5 to 13. Mean caries levels were as follows: DMFT = 1.1 (SD 1.6); DMFS = 1.6 (SD 2.5); dft = 3.0 (SD 2.9); dfs = 6.3 (SD 6.7) Fifty percent of children with at least 1 permanent tooth (189) were caries free, with 17% (34) having DMFT values greater than or equal to 3. The large number of caries-free children displayed a skewed distribution of caries where a small proportion of the population harbored the majority of the disease. A statistically significant decrease in caries was evident in permanent teeth (P = .0001) between 1999 and 1982 samples, but no change was realized in primary teeth (P = .7).
Results indicated that the caries decline has extended to this long-neglected migrant group, but only in the permanent dentition. Caries remained moderate to high in the primary dentition and the caries burden was carried by a relatively small segment of the population. Dental treatment programs should be expanded to include preschool children who appear to be at the highest risk for caries.
本研究旨在描述西班牙裔美国流动工人子女样本中龋齿的患病率，并将结果与密歇根州西北部早期的流动工人研究进行比较，以评估流动儿童是否从全球龋齿患病率下降中受益。
1999年夏天，从密歇根州西北部的流动工人学校选取了一个非概率便利样本的流动农场工人子女。由一名检查人员使用现场牙科设备检查龋齿、氟斑牙和紧急牙科需求。使用SAS软件进行统计分析，采用学生t检验来检验样本之间的差异。检查人员内部对表面龋齿的可靠性较高（kappa = 0.94）。
样本包括211名儿童，95%的儿童年龄在5至13岁之间。平均龋齿水平如下：恒牙龋失补牙数（DMFT）= 1.1（标准差1.6）；恒牙龋失补牙面数（DMFS）= 1.6（标准差2.5）；乳牙龋失补牙数（dft）= 3.0（标准差2.9）；乳牙龋失补牙面数（dfs）= 6.3（标准差6.7）。至少有一颗恒牙的儿童（189名）中有50%无龋齿，17%（34名）的恒牙龋失补牙数（DMFT）值大于或等于3。大量无龋齿儿童显示出龋齿分布不均，一小部分人群患有大部分龋齿疾病。1999年和1982年样本之间恒牙龋齿有统计学显著下降（P = .0001），但乳牙无变化（P = .7）。
结果表明，龋齿患病率下降已扩展到这个长期被忽视的流动群体，但仅在恒牙列中。乳牙列中的龋齿仍处于中度至高度，且龋齿负担由相对较小的一部分人群承担。牙科治疗项目应扩大到包括似乎龋齿风险最高的学龄前儿童。
