Children Living in Rural America Less Likely to Receive Preventive Dental Care

A study led by an interdisciplinary team of researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina and the University of South Carolina has found children living in rural areas are less likely to receive preventive dental care than urban children. The report has been published in the Journal of Public Health Dentistry. 

Using data from 20,842 respondents from the 2017 to 2018 National Survey of Children’s Health, researchers determined rural children were less likely to have a preventive dental visit than urban children (84.9 % versus 87.5%). Rural children were more likely to have their oral condition rated as fair or poor and less likely to have received fluoride treatment when compared to children residing in urban areas. Read more here.