Caregivers' report of preventive dental care visits and services for US WIC-participating and non-participating children.

OBJECTIVES

To determine whether children participating in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) had more caregiver-reported preventive dental care visits (PDCVs) and preventive dental services (PDS) than nonparticipating children.

METHODS

A secondary data analysis was performed utilizing the National Survey of Children's Health 2017 and 2018 combined datasets. The analytic sample included 10,356 children aged 1-4 years. It was further stratified into three groups by WIC eligibility and participation to include WIC participation, income-eligible nonparticipants, and higher-income nonparticipants. The independent variables included child-level characteristics (age, sex, race/ethnicity, and insurance) and caregiver-level characteristics (age of mother and the highest level of education in the household). The dependent variable was the report of PDCV and PDS (dental cleaning, toothbrushing instructions, and fluoride treatment) in the past 12 months.

RESULTS

Of the 10,356 children aged 1-4 years, 3025 were eligible for WIC and nearly half of those eligible (49.5%) reported participating in the WIC program. Caregivers of WIC-participating children had a higher reported prevalence of PDCV for their children than those of income-eligible nonparticipants (57.6% vs. 49.6%, respectively) (p < 0.05). In addition, caregivers of WIC-participating children reported their children receiving more PDS than income-eligible nonparticipants, including dental cleanings (38.5% vs. 33.6%), toothbrushing instructions (25.5% vs. 22.7%), and fluoride treatments (22.7% vs. 21.2%) (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

WIC-participating children had a higher reported prevalence of PDCVs and PDS than income-eligible nonparticipating children. Further research is needed to understand differences in the reports of specific PDSs received.