IADR Abstract Archives
The Link Between Neighbourhood School Environment and Child Dental Health
Objectives: To investigate the relationship between neighbourhood school environment within a local authority in the South of England and the dental needs of 5-to-11-year-old-children attending a primary-dental-care facility in the area.
Methods: Secondary analyses of two cross-sectional, open-access datasets- i) electronic dental-records (2008-2012) of children visiting the University of Portsmouth Dental Academy (UPDA), ii) Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) school inspection reports (2008-2020). Data analysed included information on paediatric patients’ age, gender, deprivation by area-of-residence [Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD)], and tooth extraction. Augmented to this was the Overall Effectiveness Score (OES) of primary schools from Ofsted (scores:1=Outstanding to 4=Inadequate). This was computed to a population-weighted-mean-OES for census-based small-areas of 5000-15000 people called Middle-layer Super Output Areas (MSOAs) within the local authority. Descriptive, univariate, and multivariate logistic regression analyses were undertaken. Additionally, a multilevel-modelling analysis was performed to investigate the isolated influence of school on tooth extraction.
Results: The sample included 429-patients living across 23-MSOAs. Mean-age:7.78(SD:1.976), Male vs Female:(50.1%vs 49.9%). All IMD-quintiles were represented. Seventy (16.3%) patients undergone tooth extraction. Population-weighted-mean-OES: Range:1.74-3.00, Mean:2.04(SD:0.243). Univariate models revealed age and population-weighted-mean-OES as significant (p<0.05), whereas gender and IMD-quintiles as insignificant predictors of tooth extraction. Multivariate logistic regression, controlling for age and population-weighted-mean-OES, indicated that the likelihood of tooth extraction raised by 15% with increasing age and 154% for patients living in MSOAs with higher population-weighted-mean-OES (i.e. with poor-performing schools).
Conclusions: School-OES, although a contextual measure, remained a significant predictor of tooth extraction in our study. This suggests a plausible role of the neighbourhood school environment in predicting child dental health. Further research is required to assess the relevance of this association while considering individual-, neighbourhood-, and national-level predictors.
Methods: Secondary analyses of two cross-sectional, open-access datasets- i) electronic dental-records (2008-2012) of children visiting the University of Portsmouth Dental Academy (UPDA), ii) Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) school inspection reports (2008-2020). Data analysed included information on paediatric patients’ age, gender, deprivation by area-of-residence [Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD)], and tooth extraction. Augmented to this was the Overall Effectiveness Score (OES) of primary schools from Ofsted (scores:1=Outstanding to 4=Inadequate). This was computed to a population-weighted-mean-OES for census-based small-areas of 5000-15000 people called Middle-layer Super Output Areas (MSOAs) within the local authority. Descriptive, univariate, and multivariate logistic regression analyses were undertaken. Additionally, a multilevel-modelling analysis was performed to investigate the isolated influence of school on tooth extraction.
Results: The sample included 429-patients living across 23-MSOAs. Mean-age:7.78(SD:1.976), Male vs Female:(50.1%vs 49.9%). All IMD-quintiles were represented. Seventy (16.3%) patients undergone tooth extraction. Population-weighted-mean-OES: Range:1.74-3.00, Mean:2.04(SD:0.243). Univariate models revealed age and population-weighted-mean-OES as significant (p<0.05), whereas gender and IMD-quintiles as insignificant predictors of tooth extraction. Multivariate logistic regression, controlling for age and population-weighted-mean-OES, indicated that the likelihood of tooth extraction raised by 15% with increasing age and 154% for patients living in MSOAs with higher population-weighted-mean-OES (i.e. with poor-performing schools).
Conclusions: School-OES, although a contextual measure, remained a significant predictor of tooth extraction in our study. This suggests a plausible role of the neighbourhood school environment in predicting child dental health. Further research is required to assess the relevance of this association while considering individual-, neighbourhood-, and national-level predictors.