Introduction
Dental caries is one of the most prevalent diseases in the United States, as 94% of adults have it (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Dental caries, 2015). Thus its inclusion in Health People 2020 underlines its significance and necessity to study (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Healthy People 2020, 2016). Thus, individuals with low socioeconomic status were selected as a target group due to the increased vulnerability of their teeth. The background information will be studied with the help of the literature review, and the analysis of health records and semi-structured interviews with the patients will support the evidenced-based research. Acquiring information by using these methods will help determine a rationale for the development of the disease and provide appropriate methods for intervention.
Annotated Bibliography
Costa, S., Vasconcelos, M., & Abreu, M. (2013). High dental caries among adults aged 35-44 years: Case-control study of distal and proximal factors. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 10(6), 2401-2411.
The initial goal of the study is to find a connection between the caries severity and low income, frequency of visits to the dentist, and using the community benefits among the Brazilian adults (Costa, Vasconcelos, & Abreu, 2013). Thus, speaking of the correlation of the socioeconomic status and caries intensity, adults with a low income had a 2.2 higher chance of caries than individuals with a greater income (Costa et al., 2016). It was revealed with the help of using two focus groups with high caries and lower severity. In this case, the primary finding of this article is the fact that high caries severity vehemently pertains to the low-income level and decreased social cohesion. Keywords used: caries and low income. Database: PubMed.
Costa, S., Martins, C., Bonfim, M., Zina, L., Paiva, S., Pordeus, I., & Abreu, M. (2012). A systematic review of socioeconomic indicators and dental caries in adults. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 9(10), 3540-3574.
The authors of the article propose that a high level of caries and socioeconomic factors such as level of income, educational background, and socioeconomic status are interdependent (Costa et al., 2012). In this case, the hypothesis such as “less schooling and more caries” (p>0.5) and “low level of occupation and more decayed teeth” (p>0.5) received support with the assistance of the multivariate and bivariate analyses (Costa et al., 2012). It remains apparent that the findings depicted the initially proposed relationship with the help of the literature review. Nonetheless, it is questionable whether the level of income has an as high influence on the caries prevalence as for other variables. Keywords used: dental caries and socioeconomic factors. Database: PubMed.
Dye, B., Li, X., Thornton-Evans, G. (2012). Oral health disparities as determined by Selected Healthy People 2020 oral health objectives for the United States, 2009-2010. National Center for Health Statistics, 104, 1-8. Web.
The primary goal of the article is to provide a synthesis of statistical information to understand the rationale for the objectives reflected in Healthy People 2020. In this case, the authors of the publication refer to teeth retention as one of the factors, which require intervention (Dye, Li, Thornton-Evans, 2012). With the assistance of the assessment of statistical findings, the researchers depict a connection between teeth retention and poverty level. In this case, the article portrays that the adults living at the poverty level lost 38% of their permanent teeth, and the adults with a higher level of income have 45% of them (Dye et al., 2012). In turn, the complete retention of teeth was lower among the adults below the Federal poverty level (15%) than among adults with better socioeconomic status (32%) (Dye et al., 2012). It could be said that the findings provide a clear rationale for the need to include dental caries in Health People 2020. Keywords: dental caries, low income, statistics. Web.
Conclusion
In the end, it could be concluded that the publications offer a clear understanding that dental caries are an issue among adults in the modern world. In this case, the selected articles provide a clear image of the interdependence of socioeconomic status and dental caries. It was revealed that the level of income contributes to the increased severity of the disease. At the same time, the aspects such as educational background, occupation, and socioeconomic status cannot be underestimated, as they also affect the situation with caries prevalence among adults. Based on the factors provided above, it could be stated that the articles support the topic of research with profound background information and highlight that the continuation of the study is necessary.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Dental caries and tooth loss in adults in the United States, 2011-2012. (2015). Web.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Healthy People 2020: Oral health objectives. (2016). Web.
Costa, S., Martins, C., Bonfim, M., Zina, L., Paiva, S., Pordeus, I., & Abreu, M. (2012). A systematic review of socioeconomic indicators and dental caries in adults. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 9(10), 3540-3574.
Costa, S., Vasconcelos, M., & Abreu, M. (2013). High dental caries among adults aged 35-44 years: Case control study of distal and proximal factors. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 10(6), 2401-2411.
Dye, B., Li, X., Thornton-Evans, G. (2012). Oral health disparities as determined by Selected Healthy People 2020 oral health objectives for the United States, 2009-2010.National Center for Health Statistics, 104, 1-8.