National Children's Dental Health Month.

February is National Children's Dental Health Month!

Variations in children's dental service use based on four national health surveys.

OBJECTIVE To compare estimates of dental service use and delayed dental care across 4 national surveys of children's health. METHODS Among children 2 to 17 years of age, prevalence estimates of the use of any dental services, preventive dental services, and delayed dental care in the past year were obtained from the 2003 and 2007 National Survey of Children's Health, the 2003-2004 National He...

Influence of caregivers and children's entry into the dental care system.

OBJECTIVES Early preventive dental visits are essential in improving children's oral health, especially young children at high risk for dental caries. However, there is scant information on how these children enter the dental care system. Our objectives were as follows: (1) to describe how a population-based cohort of young Medicaid-enrolled children entered dental care; and (2) to investigate ...

Changes in Children’s Oral Health Status and Receipt of Preventive Dental Visits, United States, 2003–2011/2012

INTRODUCTION Oral health represents the largest unmet health care need for children, and geographic variations in children's receipt of oral health services have been noted. However, children's oral health outcomes have not been systematically evaluated over time and across states. This study examined changes in parent-reported children's oral health status and receipt of preventive dental visi...

Association between parents' and children's use of oral health services.

OBJECTIVE Several parental factors influence children's use of oral health services. Some localized studies have shown that children's dental use patterns correlate positively with those of their parents. The objective of this study was to investigate associations between parents' and children's oral health-seeking behaviors among a representative sample of US children. METHODS We used the 20...