Public Health Sciences Texas A&M University College of Dentistry, 3302 Gaston Avenue, Dallas, TX, 75246, USA.
Department of Comprehensive Dentistry, Texas A&M University College of Dentistry, 3302 Gaston Avenue, Dallas, TX, 75246, USA.
BMC Public Health. 2022 Apr 29;22(1):861. doi: 10.1186/s12889-022-13237-2.
Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN) have higher rates of oral diseases and tooth decay compared with the general population. Children with developmental disorders/ disabilities (DD) are a subset of CSHCN whose oral health has not been specifically addressed. Therefore, this study had two objectives: to describe the oral health needs (OHN) of children with DD compared with children without DD; and to assess barriers to access to care, utilization of dental services, and their association with oral health needs for children with DD.
This cross-sectional study utilized a sample of 30,530 noninstitutionalized children from the 2018 National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH). Analysis was conducted using descriptive and inferential statistics.
The analysis identified 6501 children with DD and 24,029 children without DD. Children with DD had significantly higher prevalence of OHN (20.3% vs. 12.2%, respectively), unmet dental needs (3.5% vs 1.2%), and utilization of any dental visits (86.1% vs 76.1%), (P-value < . 001). The adjusted logistic model identified four factors that contributed to the higher odds of OHN among children with DD: poverty (< 100% of the Federal Poverty Level (AOR = 2.27, CI: 1.46-3.51), being uninsured (AOR = 2.12, 95% CI: 1.14-3.95), a high level of disability (AOR = 1.89, CI: 1.23-2.78), and living in the western United States (AOR = 1.61, CI: 1.09-2.37.
Despite higher utilization of dental services, children with DD had poorer oral health and more unmet dental needs than children without DD. Advocacy efforts and policy changes are needed to develop affordable access that assesses, as early as possible, children with DD whose conditions impact their ability a great deal so that their potential OHN may be alleviated more effectively.
与一般人群相比，有特殊健康需求的儿童（CSHCN）的口腔疾病和龋齿发病率更高。患有发育障碍/残疾（DD）的儿童是 CSHCN 的一个亚组，他们的口腔健康尚未得到专门关注。因此，本研究有两个目标：描述与无 DD 的儿童相比，有 DD 的儿童的口腔健康需求（OHN）；并评估获得护理的障碍、利用牙科服务的情况，及其与有 DD 的儿童口腔健康需求的关联。
本横断面研究利用了 2018 年全国儿童健康调查（NSCH）的 30530 名非机构化儿童样本。使用描述性和推断性统计方法进行分析。
分析确定了 6501 名患有 DD 的儿童和 24029 名没有 DD 的儿童。患有 DD 的儿童的OHN（分别为 20.3%和 12.2%）、未满足的牙科需求（分别为 3.5%和 1.2%）和任何牙科就诊的利用率（分别为 86.1%和 76.1%）的比例明显更高（P 值<.001）。调整后的逻辑模型确定了四个因素导致 DD 儿童OHN 的几率更高：贫困（<100%联邦贫困水平（AOR=2.27，CI：1.46-3.51））、没有保险（AOR=2.12，95%CI：1.14-3.95））、高水平残疾（AOR=1.89，CI：1.23-2.78）和居住在美国西部（AOR=1.61，CI：1.09-2.37）。
尽管牙科服务利用率较高，但与无 DD 的儿童相比，患有 DD 的儿童的口腔健康状况较差，未满足的牙科需求更多。需要开展宣传活动和政策改革，以提供负担得起的服务，尽早评估那些病情严重影响其能力的 DD 儿童，以便更有效地缓解他们的潜在OHN。
