Non-Cochrane · aetiology · PM42839904
Association between socioeconomic status and dental caries in adolescents - a systematic review of cohort studies.
Skeie Marit Slåttelid, Klock Kristin Solveig, Dahllöf Göran, et al. · Acta odontologica Scandinavica · 2026 · PubMed · doi:10.2340/aos.v85.46953
Findings
Population Adolescents aged 12–19 years
11 findings
| Higher maternal education | Lower maternal education | Dental caries in permanent teeth | no estimate extracted GRADE not reported 7 studies |
| Maternal education | Exposure contrast not specified in forest plot | Caries incidence | OR 1.36 [1.05, 1.78] GRADE not reported 3 studies |
| Higher paternal education | Lower paternal education | Dental caries in permanent teeth | no estimate extracted GRADE not reported 4 studies |
| Higher parental or caregiver education | Lower parental or caregiver education | Dental caries in permanent teeth | no estimate extracted GRADE not reported 3 studies |
| Parental or household income | Exposure contrast not specified in forest plot | Caries incidence | OR 1.24 [0.89, 1.73] GRADE not reported 2 studies |
| Higher parental or household income | Lower parental or household income | Dental caries in permanent teeth | no estimate extracted GRADE not reported 6 studies |
| Working-class household | Civil servant household | Dental caries in permanent teeth | no estimate extracted GRADE not reported 1 study |
| Lower composite socioeconomic status | Higher composite socioeconomic status | Dental caries in permanent teeth | no estimate extracted GRADE not reported 6 studies |
| Different adolescent school types | Reference school type | Dental caries in permanent teeth | no estimate extracted GRADE not reported 3 studies |
| Different levels of social support | Reference social support level | Dental caries in permanent teeth | no estimate extracted GRADE not reported 2 studies |
| Immigrant background | Non-immigrant background | Dental caries in permanent teeth | no estimate extracted GRADE not reported 4 studies |
Included primary studies 21
Open in Studies| Study | Year | Also included by | Outcomes it informs here | Trial data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Schmoeckel 2015 Long-term caries development in schoolchildren and the role of educational status. PMID:25646171 | 2015 | 1 other review | not stated | not extracted yet |
| Alm 2012 Caries in adolescence - influence from early childhood. PMID:22022978 | 2012 | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet |
| Bernabe 2011 Roles of different sources of social support on caries experience and caries increment in adolescents of East london. PMID:21846986 | 2011 | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet |
| Brondani 2024 Community and individual socioeconomic inequalities and dental caries from childhood to adolescence: A 10-year cohort study. PMID:38402550 | 2024 | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet |
| Costa 2023 Socio-economic status, psychosocial factors, health behaviours and incidence of dental caries in 12-year-old children living in deprived… PMID:37019267 | 2023 | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet |
| Gerdin 2008 Dental caries and body mass index by socio-economic status in Swedish children. PMID:18284433 | 2008 | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet |
| Hall-Scullin 2017 Longitudinal Study of Caries Development from Childhood to Adolescence. PMID:28571506 | 2017 | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet |
| Julihn 2010 Migration background: a risk factor for caries development during adolescence. PMID:21083624 | 2010 | this review only | Caries incidence; Dental caries in permanent teeth | not extracted yet |
| Jung 2018 Inequalities in oral health among adolescents in Gangneung, South Korea. PMID:29699545 | 2018 | this review only | Caries incidence; Dental caries in permanent teeth | not extracted yet |
| Kallestal 2007 A four-year cohort study of caries and its risk factors in adolescents with high and low risk at baseline. PMID:17508706 | 2007 | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet |
| Llena 2020 Risk Factors Associated with Carious Lesions in Permanent First Molars in Children: A Seven-Year Retrospective Cohort Study. PMID:32098396 | 2020 | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet |
| Lu 2011 Trends in oral health from childhood to early adulthood: a life course approach. PMID:21362012 | 2011 | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet |
| Ortiz 2022 Social Economic Disadvantage and Untreated Dental Caries: Findings from a Cohort Study in Adolescents. PMID:35797972 | 2022 | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet |
| Page 2011 Dental caries in Taranaki adolescents: a cohort study. PMID:21957836 | 2011 | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet |
| Peres 2018 Income trajectories affect treatment of dental caries from childhood to young adulthood: a birth cohort study. PMID:29742233 | 2018 | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet |
| Pilecco 2019 Factors associated with the number of filled teeth in adolescents from public schools: a cohort study. PMID:31994597 | 2020 | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet |
| Saethre-Sundli 2020 Do enamel and dentine caries at 5 years of age predict caries development in newly erupted teeth? A prospective longitudinal study. PMID:32189539 | 2020 | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet |
| Tagliaferro 2006 Assessment of dental caries predictors in a seven-year longitudinal study. PMID:16913242 | 2006 | this review only | Caries incidence | not extracted yet |
| Tan 2021 Childhood Factors and Dental Caries in the Permanent Dentition: Findings of an 8-Year Study Under a Nationwide School Dental Service. PMID:33743991 | 2021 | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet |
| Wang 2020 Enamel and Dentin Caries Risk Factors of Adolescents in the Context of the International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS): A… PMID:32850535 | 2020 | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet |
| Warren 2017 Dental caries clusters among adolescents. PMID:28671327 | 2017 | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet |
Overlap with other reviews
Reviews that include the same primary studies are not independent evidence. Shared counts match studies by PMID, DOI or NCT, and otherwise by author and year (a probable match). Only the non-Cochrane dental reviews have study lists, so overlap with Cochrane reviews is not counted yet.
| Review | Shared studies | Jaccard |
|---|---|---|
| Caries Progression Rates Revisited: A Systematic Review. (2019) | 1 | 0.02 |
Review question
| Element | Planned (methods) | Found (results) |
|---|---|---|
| Population | Adolescents aged 12-19 years (permanent dentition); non-representative populations (deprived/Indigenous groups, dental students, medical conditions) excluded | About 66,000 adolescents aged 12-19 years from 11 countries on five continents (n=21 studies) |
| Intervention | SES indicators: parental education, parental income, parental occupation, adolescents' school type; SES proxies: social capital, immigrant background; composite SES indicators; country HDI | Mother's education (n=7); father's education (n=4); education of both parents/caregiver (n=3); parental income (n=6); parental occupation (n=1); composite SES (n=6); school type (n=3); social capital (n=2); immigrant background (n=4) |
| Comparison | Not specified (reference category of each SES indicator) | Higher SES category of each indicator as reference |
| Outcomes | Caries incidence (new caries cases) or mean caries increment (delta DMFT/DMFS) in permanent teeth at enamel or dentin level; caries severity (increment above a threshold) | Caries incidence or increment at tooth level (n=14) or surface level (n=7); enamel caries included in 3 studies |
| Study designs | Cohort studies (prospective or retrospective), English or Scandinavian, published 2000-2025 | 21 cohort studies (18 prospective, 3 retrospective) |
| Timing | Final caries assessment at ages 12-19; follow-up of at least 4 years used as NOS quality criterion for dentin caries | Follow-up 1 to 14 years |