- Alpert E, et al. Pediatr Open Sci. https://bit.ly/4126pkd.
Children with special health care needs (SHCN) had significantly worse oral health and more dental problems and needs than children without SHCN from 2016-’22, according to a study of more than 200,000 youths ages 1-17. In addition, disparities grew during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Studies have shown that children with SHCN are more likely to have unmet oral health needs than children without SHCN, despite high use of preventive dental services.
Authors of this study used data from the National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) to look at long-term trends in oral health status, unmet dental care needs and dental use in children with and without SHCN. They also sought to determine if disparities persisted and worsened throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
The dataset included 54,515 children with SHCN and 153,933 without. Oral health needs and dental use were assessed from parent/guardian answers to questions regarding the condition of the child’s teeth; whether the child had toothaches, bleeding gums or cavities in the past year; and whether the child needed oral health care but did not receive it in the past 12 months.
From 2016-’22, fair or poor condition of teeth was reported in 9.8% of children with SHCN and 3.8% of children without. Unmet dental needs were reported in 3.1% of children with SHCN and 1.1% of children without.
Statistics from individual years showed that parents/guardians of children with SHCN reported 8.6% had teeth in fair or poor condition in 2016. That reached 10.6% in 2020, dropped to 8.7% in 2021 and climbed to 9.5% in 2022.
By comparison, the percentage of children without SHCN with fair or poor teeth remained relatively flat from 2016-’22.
“Although the entire population was impacted by COVID-19, children with SHCNs were more adversely impacted,” the authors wrote.
