Research article

The Dental Neglect Scale in adolescents

Trilby Coolidge¹ , Masahiro Heima² , Elissa K Johnson³ and Philip Weinstein¹

¹Dental Public Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle WA, USA

²Department of Pediatric Dentistry, School of Dental Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland OH, USA

³School of Dentistry, University of Washington, Seattle WA, USA

author email corresponding author email

BMC Oral Health 2009, 9:2doi:10.1186/1472-6831-9-2

Published:	5 January 2009

Abstract

Background

Dental neglect has been found to be related to poor oral health, a tendency not to have had routine check-ups, and a longer period of time since the last dental appointment in samples of children and adults. The Dental Neglect Scale (DNS) has been found to be a valid measure of dental neglect in samples of children and adults, and may be valid for adolescents as well. We administered the DNS to a sample of adolescents and report on the relationships between the DNS and oral health status, whether or not the adolescent has been to the dentist recently for routine check-ups, and whether or not the adolescent currently goes to a dentist. We also report the internal and test-retest reliabilities of the DNS in this sample, as well as the results of an exploratory factor analysis.

Methods

One hundred seventeen adolescents from seven youth groups in the Seattle-Tacoma metropolitan area (Washington State, U.S.) completed the DNS and indicated whether they currently go to a dentist, while parents indicated whether the adolescent had a check-up in the previous three years. Adolescents also received a dental screening. Sixty six adolescents completed the questionnaire twice. T-tests were used to compare DNS scores of adolescents who have visible caries or not, adolescents who have had a check-up in the past three years or not, and adolescents who currently go to a dentist or not. Internal reliability was measured by Cronbach's alpha, and test-rest reliability was measured by intra-class correlation. Factor analysis (Varimax rotation) was used to examine the factor structure.

Results

In each comparison, significantly higher DNS scores were observed in adolescents with visible caries, who have not had a check-up in the past three years, or who do not go to a dentist (all p values < 0.05). The test-retest reliability of the DNS was high (ICC = 0.81), and its internal reliability was acceptable (Cronbach's alpha = 0.60). Factor analysis yielded two factors, characterized by home care and visiting a dentist.

Conclusion

The DNS appears to operate similarly in this sample of adolescents as it has in other samples of children and adults.