Social factors and diet diaries of caries-free and high-caries 2- to 7-year olds presenting for dental care in West Virginia.

Social factors are thought to have an association with dental caries. An extensive list as well as the cumulative effects of these factors has not been established for children seeking dental care. The purpose of this study was to compare selected social factors and diet diary recordings for childrsn ages 2.8 years to 7.2 years who were caries-free (n ~ 36) with those having extensive interproxlmal lesions of the pdmary molars (n = 40). Caries-free children were significantly more likely to have parents with college experience, be from smaller families, have an earlier birth order, have parents with an optimistic outlook for their own dentition, be present at scheduled appointments and be restricted in getting snacks unassisted. From cumulative effects of these social factors alone, 90~ of the children couM be correctly identified as belonging to the high-caries or caries-free group. From diet diaries, no signiticant differences were found between groups for total number, timing, concentration or consistency of daily sucrose exposures. Perceived ca~ogenici~y of snack foods was the same for the ~wo groups.