Social Conditions and High Levels of Dental Caries in Five-year-old Children in Brazil.

Purpose: To identify factors associated with dental caries experience in at least four primary teeth in five-year-old Brazilian children.

Methods: This was a case-control study, part of a prior investigation of the prevalence of dental caries in the primary dentition of five-year-old children conducted in 2006 in public health services in Recife, Brazil. Study patients had a decayed, missing, and filled teeth [dmft] score ≥ 4 and controls had a dmft score ≤ 3.