Dental Caries and Dental Visits Among U.S. Women 1999–2004

Objective:  

To compare the mean number of decayed and filled surfaces (DFS) and dental visits in the last year among pregnant women with non-pregnant women participating in the National Health And Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999–2004.

Method:  

We included all female participants aged 15–44 years from the NHANES dataset. Pregnancy status was determined by either a laboratory pregnancy test or self-report. Mean DFS was calculated from the oral examination conducted by trained dentists. Results were tabulated by age, race/ethnicity and percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) using SAS and SUDAAN to account for NHANES complex sampling design. 

Result:  

 

	Pregnant women			Non-pregnant women
	N	Mean DFS(95%CI)	Dental visit within last year %( 95%CI)	N	Mean DFS(95%CI)	Dental visit within last year % (95%CI)
Overall	847	12.1(10.7,13.5)	49.9(42.1,57.6)*	3711	13.1(12.5,13.8)	58.1(56.0,60.1)*
15–24 years	343	10.0(7.5,12.5)*	39.9(27.3,54.0)*	1870	7.0(6.5,7.6)*	57.9(54.1,61.6)*
25–34 years	421	11.6(9.9,13.4)	50.2(39.7,60.6)	839	11.8(10.8,12.8)	57.9(54.0,61.8)
35–44 years	83	18.7(13.1,25.1)	67.8(43.1,85.5)	1002	18.9(17.9,20.1)	58.3(54.9,61.7)
Non-Hispanic White	382	13.1(11.4,15.2)	56.9(45.7,67.4)	1454	14.2(13.3,15.1)	62.0(59.3,64.6)
Non-Hispanic Black	136	9.9(8.3,11.6)	38.3(24.6,54.0)	904	10.2(9.4,11.0)	48.5(43.9,53.1)
Mexican-American	237	9.4(7.1,11.7)	29.3(20.5,39.9)*	1045	10.9(9.7,12.1)	47.7(42.0,53.5)*
<100%FPL	210	11.0(8.7,13.5)	26.4(16.2,40.1)	949	11.0(9.9,12.0)	45.5(40.7,50.4)
100% –199% FPL	180	9.8(5.6,13.5)	50.3(30.7,69.9)	879	12.0(10.6,13.5)	49.2(42.6,55.9)
≥200%FPL	399	13.5(11.7,15.4)	56.2(46.4,65.5)	1621	14.6(13.7,15.5)	65.9(62.7,69.0)

Note: Missing values and other categories in race/ethnicity not listed

* p-value <0.05 comparing pregnant women to non-pregnant women

 

Conclusion:

Younger pregnant women are more likely to have more dental carries than their non-pregnant counterparts.  There are significant differences overall in the number of pregnant women having dental visits in the past year compared to non-pregnant women, and this difference is significant among younger women and Mexican-Americans. Additional research on knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors on dental visits among pregnant women is warranted since it is recommended that pregnant women visit a dentist regularly during pregnancy.