OBJECTIVE: To investigate the oral health of 12-year-old children of different deprivation but similar fluoridation status from South Asian and White Caucasian ethnic groups.DESIGN: An epidemiological survey of 12-year-old children using BASCD criteria, with additional tooth erosion, ethnic classification and postcode data.CLINICAL SETTING: Examinations were completed in schools in Leicestershire and Rutland, England, UK. Participants A random sample of 1,753 12-year-old children from all schools in the study area.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Caries experience was measured using the DMFT index diagnosed at the caries into dentine (D3) threshold, and tooth erosion using the index employed in the Children's Dental Health UK study reported in 1993.RESULTS: The overall prevalence of caries was greater in White than Asian children, but varied at different levels of deprivation and amongst different Asian religious groups. There was a significant positive association between caries and deprivation for White children, but the reverse was true for non-Muslim Asians. White Low Deprivation children had significantly less tooth erosion, but erosion experience increased with decreasing deprivation in non-Muslim Asians.CONCLUSIONS: Oral health is associated with ethnicity and linked to deprivation on an ethnic basis. The intra-Asian dental health disadvantage found in the primary dentition of Muslim children is perpetuated into the permanent dentition.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group Child