Sarah Moore

Log of Literature DHII

Beil, H., Rozier, R., Preisser, J., Stearns, S., & Lee, J. (n.d.). Effects of Early Dental
Office Visits on Dental Caries Experience. American Journal of Public Health,
104(10), 1979-1985. Retrieved from
http://web.a.ebscohost.com.resources.kirkwood.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?
vid=5&sid=346bb234-d7c8-4870-890c-dd0299c68d6d@sessionmgr4001&hid=4106

This article was about research done based on Medicaid and public health
records from N. Carolina. They looked at children in kindergarten who were enrolled
in Medicaid and correlated caries and types of treatments they had received to the
age they had their first dental checkup or visit. The article concluded that children
with higher caries risk visited the dentist at an earlier age. The children in
kindergarten who had seen the dentist at a later age were not as high risk, but by
the time these children were in kindergarten there was no difference in the rate of
disease in the groups of children. The article also discussed there was a higher risk
of caries in the children in the study who lived in areas with fewer dentist.
This study seems to show that the age a child sees a dentist is not greatly
important when compared to caries disease rate later on. This contradicts what I
have previously learned. The children were grouped into several groups ones that
had seen the dentist before 24 months, ones that had seen a dentist between 24-36
months, between 37-48 months and between 49-60 months. I feel like this study
leaves lots of room for future studies. I think this study did well in comparing
children from low income families, but because only one demographic was studied I
would like to see how low income children compare to children from families of
other demographics. The children from the low income families that visit the dentist

Sarah Moore
Log of Literature DHII
earlier seem to do so because the children already have dental problems. So seeing
if families from other demographics take their children to the dentist earlier for
preventive care rather than for existing problems and if it lowers caries rates would
be helpful in future studies.