PREVALENCE AND TREATMENT COSTS OF INFANT CARIES IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

To determine the prevalence of infant caries in low-socioeconomic-stat us children and to analyze the costs of their treatment, we retrospect ively evaluated 357 children, ages eight months to seven a university- associated medical center in Northern California. Infant caries was di agnosed by several different standards, and prevalence varied accordin g to the diagnostic criteria employed: 27 percent by the presence of a ny labiolingual lesion on the maxillary incisors; 32 percent by the pr esence of at least two carious maxillary incisors; 27 percent by the p resence of at least three carious maxillary incisors; and 36 percent b y a dmft greater than or equal to 5. Prevalence was higher among boys than girls (37 percent versus 27 percent), and highest in the group ag es 3-4 years (43 percent). The cost of dental treatment increased with deft and ranged from $408 for deft 2-5 to $1725 for deft 16-20. Many patients failed to comply with recommended treatment for reasons of co st. Our results showed that (1) the prevalence of infant caries varies depending upon the clinical criteria used for diagnosis; (2) the cost of rehabilitating primary dentition increases in proportion to the nu mber of teeth involved; and (3) low-income patients avoid treatment of infant caries for a variety of reasons related to the costs involved.