children and the elderly are the population groups at greatest risk – breaking latest news

In Italy, dental caries in preschool children is an unsolved public health problem, especially in low-income areas and among the most socially and economically disadvantaged groups particularly with non-European backgrounds. To raise the alarm, one study published on Bmc Pediatrics
of which first signatory Guglielmo Campusprofessor of preventive dentistry and preventive medicine and oral epidemiology at the University of Bern.

A sample of over six thousand children

The study used data on 6,825 children between 3 and 4 years (52.8% females), obtained from the second epidemiological survey called National pathfinder on children’s oral health in Italypromoted in 2016 by the Collaboration Center for Community Epidemiology and Dentistry of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Milan which ended in 2017. Already from that survey, published in Scientific Reports in 2020, it had emerged a significant correlation between the severity of cavity and socioeconomic inequalities in 12-year-olds
. We wanted to see how the oral health situation could be different from the children of Italian origin and those not of Italian originexplains Professor Campus.

Positive general situation but large inequalities

In general, dental pathologies from cavity have been declining for some time

. Fundamentally thanks to the spread of fluoroprophylaxis, the Dmft (acronym for Decayed, missing and filled teeth, the index that measures the number of decayed teethlost and filled due to dental caries) dropped significantly in 6- and 12-year-olds: from 12 decayed teeth (at 12 years of age) 25 years ago to 0.8 today. As regards 4-year-old children, the percentage of caries patients increased from 30% in 2007-2009 to the current 24%. What is actually highlighted in our study instead an unfortunately preponderant social iniquity – underlines Campus -. Because if in the population of European origin there are 73.6% of “caries free” children, unfortunately in the non-European one the sick are almost 80%.

Why so much difference in dental health

There may be several reasons: For children who have an ethnic or immigration background, the inequality is probably due to low income but also to the difficulty of accessing health facilities which could also be a difficulty of a cultural nature, replies the expert. Partly maybe they do not know the Italian language and fail to log in properly. But I believe it also exists the inability of the health system to be able to accommodate these subjects.

The study draws two types of conclusions. The first is linked to the children examined, who are more at risk of developing the disease and therefore they should go to the dentist more. But there is actually a more general conclusion: Subjects such as children especially with non-European roots or the elderly hardly enter the system. This is a public health problem that the health system should try to address as much as possible, concludes Campus.