Relationship between childhood caries and social background: Regarding the novel emerged correlation between induced abortion and dental caries

Abstract

Background

In Japan, a universal health insurance coverage system has been established, and everyone has equal access to medical care. Therefore, Japan is often considered to have less disparity in living standards than other countries. However, there are few reports on a correlation between social class and health due to the image of fewer individual disparities.

Aim

This study aimed to investigate the association between childhood dental caries and socioeconomic background.

Methods

Using various government statistics sources, we examined the association between childhood dental caries and socioeconomic factors in Japan including the induced abortion rate and number of recognized criminal offenses as objective variables.

Four factors were selected as explanatory variables: monthly income per household, percentage of expenditure on other living expenses, number of penal-code offenses, and clearance rate of penal-code offenses. The induced abortion rates per 1000 women by age for prefectures or induced abortion rates per 1000 women aged 25–29 years for prefectures (‰) were correlated with the prevalence of dental caries in children as explanatory variables.

Results

This study demonstrated a significant effect (p<0.05) of induced abortion on increased childhood dental caries.

Conclusion

Our findings highlight the importance of dentists sharing medical knowledge about obstetrics and pediatrics with the community and other medical professionals through avenues such as community medicine and school health checkups.