Antecedents and Associations of Root Surface Caries Experience among 38-Year-Olds

Thomson, W. M.
Broadbent, J. M.
Foster Page, L. A.
Poulton, R.

^aSir John Walsh Research Institute, School of Dentistry, and
^bDepartment of Preventive and Social Medicine, Dunedin School of Medicine, The University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

Received: May 16, 2012

Accepted after revision: October 1, 2012

Published online: November 28, 2012

Dr. W. Murray Thomson

Sir John Walsh Research Institute, The University of Otago

PO Box 647

Dunedin 9054 (New Zealand)

E-Mail [email protected]

Caries Research 47(2):p 128-134, February 2013. | DOI: 10.1159/000345078

Abstract

Objective:

To determine whether coronal caries experience through to the 30s predicts root surface caries experience by age 38.

Method:

Prospective study of a complete birth cohort (n = 1,037) born in 1972/73 in Dunedin, New Zealand. Dental examinations were conducted at ages 5, 9, 15, 18, 26, 32 and 38. Root surface caries data were first collected at age 38. Data from ages 5 through 32 were used previously to identify low, medium and high life course trajectories of caries experience and plaque accumulation.

Results:

Of the 916 dentate individuals examined at age 38, 23.0% had 1+ root DFS, 17.2% had 1+ root DS and 11.4% had 1+ root FS. The mean root DS, FS and DFS were 0.6 (SD 3.5), 0.3 (SD 1.1) and 0.9 (SD 3.8), respectively. The mean Root Caries Index (RCI) score was 7.2% (SD 18.0). Age 38 coronal DMFS and root surface caries DFS were only weakly correlated (r = 0.32), but root surface caries experience was strongly associated with coronal caries trajectory, with the mean RCI in the low, medium and high caries trajectory groups being 4.4, 8.0 and 13.5%, respectively (p < 0.0001); their prevalence of 1+ root DFS was 14.5, 25.9 and 42.2% (p < 0.0001). Those in the high coronal caries trajectory were more likely to have 1+ root surface DFS (odds ratio = 3.83; 95% CI = 2.33–6.30); for the medium trajectory, the odds ratio was 1.86 (95% CI = 1.25–2.75).

Conclusion:

Lifelong coronal caries experience (represented by discrete longitudinal trajectories of caries experience) is indeed a risk factor for root surface caries experience by age 38.