Oral Health Status of Children Enrolling in Head Start Programs in Boston

Objectives: To evaluate the oral health status of newly enrolled ABCD Boston Head Start (HS) children by establishing the prevalence of dental homes, untreated Early Childhood Caries (ECC) and correlations between family demographics, dental home status, and ECC.

Methods: A cross sectional study of 134 randomly selected HS children during the 2010-2011 school-year calculated the frequency of a dental home as reported by parents their child's application and the frequency of ECC by review of available dental histories.

Results: The mean age of the children at enrollment is 3.67 years. 53.7% (95% CI: 45.5% - 62.1%) did not report a dental home. ECC among children at enrollment is 11.1%. Mass Health coverage is 90.3% for children with dental homes, but less than 66% for children without dental homes. Over 40% of African American/Black/African/Haitian children did not have a dental home. Asian and African children make up less than 6% of the sample each, but account for over 42% of ECC. 16% of households speak a language other than English or Spanish, but have over 28% of ECC. 73% of children have single-parent households; higher for children with ECC (85.7%).

Conclusions: More than half of preschoolers entering ABCD HS in Boston do not have a dental home. A dental home at enrollment is correlated with a child's race (African American, Black, African, or Haitian) and dental insurance type (Mass Health). ECC is correlated with primary language (neither English or Spanish), single-parent household, and race (belonging to Asian or African racial classification).