Hiilamo Aapo, Keski-Säntti Markus, Mannevaara Matias, Kallio Jouko, Harjunmaa Ulla, Koskenvuo Karoliina
Itla Children's Foundation, Helsinki, Finland.
Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
Scand J Public Health. 2025 Jun;53(4):376-382. doi: 10.1177/14034948241245541. Epub 2024 Apr 25.
Previous studies show that dental health is associated with educational and labour market outcomes, but it is unclear whether dental care records in childhood can serve as early markers of financial hardship risk in adulthood.
Data on sociodemographic variables and dental records of all children born in Finland and who lived their childhood in the city of Espoo were obtained from national registers (=1867). Debt defaults at the age of 23 years were used as a measure of adulthood financial hardship. Caries recorded in dental check-ups and unnotified absence from dental appointments in childhood were derived from electronic health systems. Logistic regression models were fitted to investigate the extent to which these variables were associated with financial hardship in adulthood before and after adjusting for parental social assistance use.
The odds of adulthood debt defaults were higher for people with caries before the age of 13 years (odds ratio 1.37, compared with people without) and for people with significant caries multiple times (odds ratio 2.07). Unnotified absences from dental checks were strongly associated with debt defaults. These associations were substantially reduced after adjusting the models for parental social assistance use.
The association between childhood dental care records and adulthood financial hardship mainly reflects the fact that parental socioeconomic status links to dental records. Nevertheless, data from dental care could be used in targeting appropriate measures to prevent financial hardship later in life.
先前的研究表明，牙齿健康与教育和劳动力市场结果相关，但尚不清楚儿童时期的牙科护理记录是否可作为成年后经济困难风险的早期指标。
从国家登记处获取了所有在芬兰出生并在埃斯波市度过童年的儿童的社会人口统计学变量和牙科记录数据（=1867）。将23岁时的债务违约用作成年后经济困难的衡量指标。牙科检查中记录的龋齿和儿童时期未通知的牙科预约缺勤情况来自电子健康系统。拟合逻辑回归模型，以研究在调整父母社会援助使用情况前后，这些变量与成年后经济困难的关联程度。
13岁前有龋齿的人（与无龋齿者相比，优势比为1.37）以及多次患有严重龋齿的人（优势比为2.07）成年后债务违约的几率更高。未通知的牙科检查缺勤与债务违约密切相关。在调整模型以考虑父母社会援助使用情况后，这些关联大幅降低。
儿童牙科护理记录与成年后经济困难之间的关联主要反映了父母社会经济地位与牙科记录相关这一事实。然而，牙科护理数据可用于针对性采取适当措施，以预防日后生活中的经济困难。
