ETHNICITY AND MATERNAL EDUCATION AS RISK INDICATORS FOR DENTAL-CARIES, AND THE ROLE OF DENTAL BEHAVIOR

The aim of this study was to assess differences in dental health betwe en socioeconomic and ethnic groups in a cohort of 5-yr-old children bo rn in 1982 and in a cohort of 11-yr-old children born in 1976. A furth er aim was to evaluate the putative role of dental behaviors as interv ening factors between ethnicity and maternal education on the one hand and caries experience on the other. A secondary analysis was performe d on data collected in a study monitoring the oral health of youths co vered by public health insurance (Ziekenfonds) in the Netherlands. The results showed both ethnicity and maternal education to be indicators of caries risk in the primary dentition. For caries in the permanent dentition, only maternal education could be identified as a risk indic ator. Dental behaviors were related to caries experience as well as to ethnicity and maternal education, though the evidence for the role of these dental behaviors as intervening factors was weak. It is conclud ed that the validity and reliability of the behavioral measurements mi ght be questionable and that the mechanism underlying the differences in caries experience between the various groups is still little unders tood.