DENTAL-CARIES PREVALENCE AND DENTAL-HEALTH CARE OF MEXICAN-AMERICAN WORKERS CHILDREN

The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of dental ca ries and the use of dental services in a pediatric population of Mexic an-American migrant workers. The results were compared with the Mexica n-American child population from the Hispanic Health and Nutrition Exa mination Survey (KHANES). One hundred thirty three-to-sixteen-year-old children participated in the study. The children who were born in Mex ico and those who spoke Spanish had seen the dentist less often and ha d a higher incidence of decayed teeth than those who were born in the US and than those who spoke English (p < 0.05). The children from low- income families had visited the dentist less frequently and did so at an older age than those from high income families (p < 0.05). When com pared with HHANES, the children in this study visited the dentist at a n older age, had been to the dentist less often, were less likely to h ave dental insurance, and had a higher incidence of dental caries than the children from HHANES (p > 0.05). This study demonstrated a genera l lack of dental health knowledge, a disproportionate prevalence of de cayed teeth and unmet dental need in the Mexican-American migrant work ers' children.