Biomedical subjects

David G Pendrys

Publications and source records attributed to David G Pendrys.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Associations of ethnicity/race and socioeconomic status with early childhood caries patterns.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this project was to evaluate ethnicity/race, household income and caregiver education level as predictors of (1) any early childhood caries, and (2) each of four proposed patterns of primary dentition caries. METHODS: Between February 1994 and September 1995, five examiners visually examined Arizona pre-school children ages 5-59 months old. Self-reported demographic information including family income, caregiver education level and ethnicity/race were obtained at the time of examination. Multivariate analyses were conducted to assess the association of income, education and ethnicity/race with a child having any caries and with each of the proposed caries patterns seen in 3850 examinations. RESULTS: Income and education were inversely associated with: (1) any early childhood caries, and (2) the maxillary incisor caries pattern. A positive association between these caries patterns and minority ethnicity/race status was also identified. Three additional caries intraoral patterns demonstrated more varied associations with socioeconomic status (SES), ethnicity/race and income and education. CONCLUSIONS: This study supports the association of both ethnicity/race and social status with any early childhood caries. The patterns of caries were each found to be associated with specific and different socioeconomic-demographic indicators. The practical importance of these findings is that global measurement of ECC, without regard to specific caries pattern, leads to the potential for substantial non-differential misclassification of disease. The consequence of this is the potential for important ECC-SES-ethnicity/race associations to be masked. This, in turn, decreases the ability of surveys and investigations to accurately identify sub-groups of the population at greatest risk of developing ECC.

Arizona↗

PubMed2003

Classification of dental caries patterns in the primary dentition: a multidimensional scaling analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Clinical patterns of early childhood caries (ECC) encompassing specific teeth or surfaces have been previously proposed on an a priori basis and have been used as case definitions. The underlying assumption is that the patterns result from different host response and environmental conditions. Identifying caries patterns has utility in refining case definitions of ECC. Well-defined caries patterns should enhance the ability of an analysis to identify meaningful associations between suspected risk factors and ECC. The purpose of this project was to identify patterns of caries in the dentition of preschool children using multidimensional scaling without a priori pattern delineation. METHODS: Between February 1994 and September 1995, five examiners visually examined 5171 Arizona preschool children aged 5-59 months old. Multidimensional scaling (MDS) was used as a classification/taxonomy technique to identify any underlying structure of the caries data. MDS provided a classification scheme for individual tooth surfaces based on the dissimilarity measures of squared Euclidean distance and of variance using an alscal analysis. Both two- and three-dimensional solutions were pursued; s-stress, stress, R-square and residual patterns were assessed in determining the best dimensional model, with the resulting quadrant positions of the tooth surfaces suggesting potential caries patterns. RESULTS: All models demonstrated excellent fit. Two- and three-dimensional solutions suggested four caries patterns: (i) any maxillary incisor surfaces, (ii) first molar occlusal surfaces, (iii) second molar pit and fissure surfaces, and (iv) any smooth surfaces, excluding the maxillary incisor surfaces. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first delineation of primary dentition caries patterns produced by a classification analysis without a priori pattern definitions. The identified caries patterns may arise from specific risk factors and/or be a function of the timing of various risk factor exposures. Use of these patterns as case definitions should enhance the ability to identify associations between suspected risk factors and ECC.

Child, Preschool↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Median ages of eruption of the primary teeth in white and Hispanic children from Arizona.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this project was to establish median eruption ages of primary teeth and evaluate eruption differences between contralateral teeth by gender, ethnicity, and household income. Data was derived from a caries study of preschool children. METHODS: A total of 4,277 white (non-Hispanic) and Hispanic preschool children from Arizona were visually examined for caries and tooth eruption status by 5 examiners between February 1994 and September 1995. Analyses of eruption status were conducted using logistic regression to produce an eruption probability distribution from which median eruption ages for the primary teeth were determined. Possible differences in eruption timing between contralateral teeth by gender, ethnicity, and household income were examined. RESULTS: Eruption status of 1 tooth was significantly predictive of the pair-matched tooth for all pairs. Differences were found for the maxillary central incisor (gender) and the mandibular second molar (ethnicity). Eruption ages did not vary by household income. Median eruption ages for each of the 10 primary teeth are presented. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides contemporary median eruption ages for primary teeth.

Age Factors↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Historical evolution of primary dentition caries pattern definitions.

A variety of dental caries patterns encompassing differing teeth have been proposed, and their use may have utility in Early Childhood Caries (ECC) investigations by minimizing case misclassification. Recent reports have proposed multiple pattern schemes. The purpose of this paper was to review the historical evolution of ECC patterns to assist the clinician and researcher in understanding the strengths and limitations of contemporary caries pattern definition(s).

Dental Caries↗