Dental pain prevalence associated with caries experience in pediatric patients in a clinical sample in Mexico

Abstract The aim of this study was to identify if the prevalence of dental pain (past and / or present) is associated with caries experience in Mexican children, as well as to characterize factors associated with dental pain. A cross-sectional study was conducted in a consecutive sample of 309 children 2 to 12 years old who were patients at a dental school clinic in Toluca, Mexico. Data were collected from clinical records. The dependent variable had three categories: 0 = have never had dental pain, 1 = had dental pain before the appointment, and 2 = current dental pain. Non-parametric statistical tests were used in the analysis. A multivariate multinomial logistic regression model was generated in Stata 11.0. Average age was 5.71 ± 2.43 years and 50.8% were boys. The joint dmft+DMFT index was 9.11 ± 4.19. It was observed that 56.6% of children did not report having experienced dental pain, 30.7% reported having previously had dental pain, and 12.6% had pain when the clinical appointment took place. In the multivariate model, variables associated (p