IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v71y2010i9p1644-1652.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Social inequalities in childhood dental caries: The convergent roles of stress, bacteria and disadvantage

Author

Listed:
  • Boyce, W. Thomas
  • Den Besten, Pamela K.
  • Stamperdahl, Juliet
  • Zhan, Ling
  • Jiang, Yebin
  • Adler, Nancy E.
  • Featherstone, John D.

Abstract

The studies reported here examines stress-related psychobiological processes that might account for the high, disproportionate rates of dental caries, the most common chronic disease of childhood, among children growing up in low socioeconomic status (SES) families. In two 2004-2006 studies of kindergarten children from varying socioeconomic backgrounds in the San Francisco Bay Area of California (Ns = 94 and 38), we performed detailed dental examinations to count decayed, missing or filled dental surfaces and microtomography to assess the thickness and density of microanatomic dental compartments in exfoliated, deciduous teeth (i.e., the shed, primary dentition). Cross-sectional, multivariate associations were examined between these measures and SES-related risk factors, including household education, financial stressors, basal and reactive salivary cortisol secretion, and the number of oral cariogenic bacteria. We hypothesized that family stressors and stress-related changes in oral biology might explain, fully or in part, the known socioeconomic disparities in dental health. We found that nearly half of the five-year-old children studied had dental caries. Low SES, higher basal salivary cortisol secretion, and larger numbers of cariogenic bacteria were each significantly and independently associated with caries, and higher salivary cortisol reactivity was associated with thinner, softer enamel surfaces in exfoliated teeth. The highest rates of dental pathology were found among children with the combination of elevated salivary cortisol expression and high counts of cariogenic bacteria. The socioeconomic partitioning of childhood dental caries may thus involve social and psychobiological pathways through which lower SES is associated with higher numbers of cariogenic bacteria and higher levels of stress-associated salivary cortisol. This convergence of psychosocial, infectious and stress-related biological processes appears to be implicated in the production of greater cariogenic bacterial growth and in the conferral of an increased physical vulnerability of the developing dentition.

Suggested Citation

  • Boyce, W. Thomas & Den Besten, Pamela K. & Stamperdahl, Juliet & Zhan, Ling & Jiang, Yebin & Adler, Nancy E. & Featherstone, John D., 2010. "Social inequalities in childhood dental caries: The convergent roles of stress, bacteria and disadvantage," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(9), pages 1644-1652, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:71:y:2010:i:9:p:1644-1652
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(10)00642-8
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kristenson, M. & Eriksen, H. R. & Sluiter, J. K. & Starke, D. & Ursin, H., 2004. "Psychobiological mechanisms of socioeconomic differences in health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 58(8), pages 1511-1522, April.
    2. Donahue, G.J. & Waddell, N. & Plough, A.L. & Del Aguila, M.A. & Garlan, T.E., 2005. "The ABCDs of treating the most prevalent childhood disease," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 95(8), pages 1322-1324.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Noha Gomaa & Michael Glogauer & Howard Tenenbaum & Arjumand Siddiqi & Carlos Quiñonez, 2016. "Social-Biological Interactions in Oral Disease: A ‘Cells to Society’ View," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(1), pages 1-19, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kristin Thomas & Evalill Nilsson & Karin Festin & Pontus Henriksson & Mats Lowén & Marie Löf & Margareta Kristenson, 2020. "Associations of Psychosocial Factors with Multiple Health Behaviors: A Population-Based Study of Middle-Aged Men and Women," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-17, February.
    2. Kalwij, Adriaan, 2018. "The effects of competition outcomes on health: Evidence from the lifespans of U.S. Olympic medalists," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 276-286.
    3. Vásquez-Vera, Hugo & Palència, Laia & Magna, Ingrid & Mena, Carlos & Neira, Jaime & Borrell, Carme, 2017. "The threat of home eviction and its effects on health through the equity lens: A systematic review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 199-208.
    4. Emily T Murray & Rebecca Jones & Claudia Thomas & Arjun K Ghosh & Naveed Sattar & John Deanfield & Rebecca Hardy & Diana Kuh & Alun D Hughes & Peter Whincup, 2016. "Life Course Socioeconomic Position: Associations with Cardiac Structure and Function at Age 60-64 Years in the 1946 British Birth Cohort," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(3), pages 1-12, March.
    5. Patrick Hamm & David Stuckler & Lawrence King, 2006. "Mass Privatization and the Postcommunist Mortality Crisis," Working Papers wp118, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
    6. Ari S. Lewis & Sonja N. Sax & Susan C. Wason & Sharan L. Campleman, 2011. "Non-Chemical Stressors and Cumulative Risk Assessment: An Overview of Current Initiatives and Potential Air Pollutant Interactions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 8(6), pages 1-54, June.
    7. Chaves, Sônia Cristina Lima & Vieira-da-Silva, Lí­gia Maria, 2008. "Inequalities in oral health practices and social space: An exploratory qualitative study," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 119-128, April.
    8. Goldman, Noreen & Turra, Cassio M. & Rosero-Bixby, Luis & Weir, David & Crimmins, Eileen, 2011. "Do biological measures mediate the relationship between education and health: A comparative study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 307-315, January.
    9. Shoji, Masahiro & Cato, Susumu & Iida, Takashi & Ishida, Kenji & Ito, Asei & McElwain, Kenneth, 2020. "COVID-19 and Social Distancing in the Absence of Legal Enforcement: Survey Evidence from Japan," MPRA Paper 101968, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Alberto Batinti & Joan Costa‐Font & Timothy J. Hatton, 2022. "Voting Up? The Effects of Democracy and Franchise Extension on Human Stature," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 89(353), pages 161-190, January.
    11. Leif W. Rydstedt & Jason J. Devereux, 2013. "Psychosocial Job Strain and Sleep Quality Interaction Leading to Insufficient Recovery," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-11, November.
    12. Edouard Nicod & Silvia Stringhini & Pedro Marques-Vidal & Fred Paccaud & Gérard Waeber & Karine Lamiraud & Peter Vollenweider & Muriel Bochud, 2014. "Association of education and receiving social transfers with allostatic load in the Swiss population-based CoLaus study," Working Papers hal-01062282, HAL.
    13. Gisselmann, Marit Dahlén, 2006. "The influence of maternal childhood and adulthood social class on the health of the infant," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(4), pages 1023-1033, August.
    14. Klabbers, Gonnie & Bosma, Hans & Van Lenthe, Frank J. & Kempen, Gertrudis I. & Van Eijk, Jacques T. & Mackenbach, Johan P., 2009. "The relative contributions of hostility and depressive symptoms to the income gradient in hospital-based incidence of ischaemic heart disease: 12-Year follow-up findings from the GLOBE study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 1272-1280, October.
    15. Natalie Riedel & Irene Van Kamp & Heike Köckler & Joachim Scheiner & Adrian Loerbroks & Thomas Claßen & Gabriele Bolte, 2017. "Cognitive-Motivational Determinants of Residents’ Civic Engagement and Health (Inequities) in the Context of Noise Action Planning: A Conceptual Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-25, May.
    16. Johanna Lundberg & Margareta Kristenson, 2008. "Is Subjective Status Influenced by Psychosocial Factors?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 89(3), pages 375-390, December.
    17. Reagan, Patricia B. & Salsberry, Pamela J. & Olsen, Randall J., 2007. "Does the measure of economic disadvantage matter? Exploring the effect of individual and relative deprivation on intrauterine growth restriction," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(10), pages 2016-2029, May.
    18. repec:hal:journl:hal-01062282 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Hjelm, Lisa & Handa, Sudhanshu & de Hoop, Jacobus & Palermo, Tia, 2017. "Poverty and perceived stress: Evidence from two unconditional cash transfer programs in Zambia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 110-117.
    20. Petra Horváthová & Kateřina Kashi & Hana Štverková & Marie Mikušová, 2021. "Employee Well-Being Evaluation and Proposal of Activities to Increase the Level of Health’s Area—The Czech Case," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-14, February.
    21. Zimmer, Zachary, 2008. "Poverty, wealth inequality and health among older adults in rural Cambodia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 57-71, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:71:y:2010:i:9:p:1644-1652. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.