Table 2.

Unadjusted comparison of dental access, preventive behavior and dental outcomes between the 3 groups at the 14-year follow-up

Variable	HR-VLBW (n = 80)	LR-VLBW (n = 59)	Term (n = 85)	p value
Dental access
Insurance status, %
None	22	10	6	0.04
Medicaid	9	21	14
Other	48	53	60
Both Medicaid and other	21	16	20
Dental visit frequency, %
None or rarely	4	2	1	0.80
<2 years	6	12	10
Every 2 years	8	7	5
Every year	82	79	84
Prevention factors
Fluoride treatments, % yes	66	70	62	0.64
Sealants, % yes	29	25	28	0.89
Simplified Oral Hygiene Index scores	1.3 ± 0.9	1.1 ± 0.6	1.2 ± 0.8	0.34
Brushing supervision, months	102.5 ± 48.2	99.8 ± 43.2	79.8 ± 36.4	0.00
Dental outcomes
DMFT-IM scores	1.06 ± 1.6	1.00 ± 1.5	1.49 ± 1.7	0.13
Total DMFT scores	1.70 ± 3.1	1.56 ± 2.1	2.39 ± 2.9	0.15
DMFT-IM, % yes	42	42	53	0.28
DMFT, % yes	43	54	59	0.12
Opacity-IM, n	0.81 ± 1.5	1.24 ± 1.9	0.73 ± 1.2	0.121
Hypoplasia-IM, n	0.34 ± 0.90	0.41 ± 1.0	0.33 ± 0.76	0.86

Results are means 8 SD or percentages as indicated. Italics indicate values significant at p < 0.05.

¹Significant difference between VLBW and term groups at p < 0.05.