Introduction:Previous studies show that dental health is associated with educational and labour market outcomes, but it is unclear whether dental care records in childhood can serve as early markers of financial hardship risk in adulthood.Methods:Data on sociodemographic variables and dental records of all children born in Finland and who lived their childhood in the city of Espoo were obtained from national registers ( n=1867). Debt defaults at the age of 23 years were used as a measure of adulthood financial hardship. Caries recorded in dental check-ups and unnotified absence from dental appointments in childhood were derived from electronic health systems. Logistic regression models were fitted to investigate the extent to which these variables were associated with financial hardship in adulthood before and after adjusting for parental social assistance use.Results:The odds of adulthood debt defaults were higher for people with caries before the age of 13 years (odds ratio 1.37, compared with people without) and for people with significant caries multiple times (odds ratio 2.07). Unnotified absences from dental checks were strongly associated with debt defaults. These associations were substantially reduced after adjusting the models for parental social assistance use.Conclusions:The association between childhood dental care records and adulthood financial hardship mainly reflects the fact that parental socioeconomic status links to dental records. Nevertheless, data from dental care could be used in targeting appropriate measures to prevent financial hardship later in life.

中文翻译：

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童年时期的牙科护理记录与成年后的经济困难有关吗？


简介：之前的研究表明，牙齿健康与教育和劳动力市场结果相关，但尚不清楚儿童时期的牙科护理记录是否可以作为成年后经济困难风险的早期标志。方法：有关社会人口变量和所有人牙科记录的数据在芬兰出生并在埃斯波市度过童年的儿童是从国家登记册中获得的（n=1867）。 23 岁时的债务违约被用作衡量成年经济困难的标准。牙科检查中记录的龋齿和儿童时期未通知牙科预约的情况均来自电子医疗系统。采用逻辑回归模型来调查这些变量在调整父母社会援助使用前后与成年后经济困难的相关程度。结果：13 岁之前患龋齿的人成年后债务违约的几率更高（与没有龋齿的人相比，优势比为 1.37），对于患有多次严重龋齿的人（优势比为 2.07）。未经通知而缺席牙科检查与债务违约密切相关。调整父母社会援助使用模型后，这些关联大大减少。结论：儿童牙科护理记录与成年经济困难之间的关联主要反映了父母社会经济地位与牙科记录相关的事实。尽管如此，牙科保健的数据可用于制定适当的措施，以防止晚年出现经济困难。