In recent years the Valencia region has undergone mass immigration, mainly of people from eastern Europe, North Africa, and Latin America. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of immigration on caries prevalence and experience in 12- and 15-yr-old children in the Valencia region, and to relate this to other socio-economic and oral hygiene-related variables. The data were obtained from the epidemiological study of oral health carried out in the Valencia Region in 2004. The study group comprised 478, 12-yr-old children and 401, 15-yr-old children. Immigration status, age, toothbrushing frequency, and intake of cariogenic foods between meals showed significant association in a multiple linear regression model using the decayed, missing or filled teeth (DMFT) count as the dependent variable. Of all the predictive variables, the one that made the highest contribution to the model was immigration status. In a multiple logistic regression analysis with caries presence as the dependent variable, immigration status, intake of cariogenic foods, social class, and age were significantly associated with the presence of caries. As immigrant children have significantly higher caries levels than Spanish children, future public health service planning should pay attention to this risk group. © 2007 Eur J Oral Sci.

Dental health surveys dental caries Decayed missing or filled (DMF) index Public health dentistry Emigration and immigration

South and Central America Europe, Eastern Latin America regression analysis nonparametric test Statistics, Nonparametric human DMF index Eastern Europe ethnology tooth brushing Humans Adolescent male Spain female Africa questionnaire dental caries prevalence Article cariogenic diet Diet, Cariogenic Questionnaires Africa, Northern migration age Age Factors Utilization Review Likelihood Functions Emigration and Immigration statistical model Toothbrushing Child health survey