Dental Treatment Needs in Vancouver Inner-City Elementary School-Aged Children

Table 1

Operationalization of the study variables.

	Operationalization (codes)
Sociodemographic variables
Age groups	(0) Kindergarten, (1) grades 1-2,
Gender	(1) Boy, (2) girl.
Ethnicity	(2) Aboriginal, (2) Chinese, (3) European, (4) Filipino, Vietnamese (5), Hindi (6), and other (7).
Family’s income	(1) Lowest income group: (from no income to less than 20.000); (2) Medium income group: (20.000–40.000); (3) Highest income group (>40.000)
Born in Canada	(0) Born outside of Canada, (1) in Canada
Having a dental insurance	(1) Yes, no (0)
Last dental visit	(0) Do not remember or never, (1) more than a year ago, (2) within last year.
Treatment needs^#
No treatment	(0) A crown is sound or a tooth does not need any professional treatment
One-surface filling*	(1) A tooth needs a one-surface filling.
Two-surface filling*	(2) A tooth needs a two-surface filling.
Three-surface filling*	(3) A tooth needs a three-surface filling.
Four-surface filling	(4) A tooth needs a four-surface filling or a crown.
Pulp care (4)	(5) A tooth needs pulp care prior to restoration with a filling or crown because of deep and extensive caries or because of tooth mutilation or trauma.
Extraction (5)	(6) A tooth needs extraction due to extensive caries, or caries has destroyed a tooth such that it cannot be restored.

#Treatment needs recorded based on the WHO criteria.
∗One of the codes 1, 2, or 3 was also used to indicate the treatment required to treat primary or secondary caries or to replace an unsatisfactory filling. A filling was considered unsatisfactory if one or more of the following conditions existed: a deficient margin, an overhanging margin, or a fracture of an existing restoration that either caused the filling to loosen or permitted leakage into the dentin and thus discoloration.