Efficacy of a public promotion program on children's oral health

• Autor(a) principal: Alves,Ana Paula S.
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Outros Autores: Rank,Rise C.I.C., Vilela,Joana Estela R., Rank,Marcos S., Ogawa,Wataro N., Molina,Omar F.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Jornal de Pediatria (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0021-75572018000500518
• topic: Pediatric dentistry; Primary prevention; Oral health; Dental caries; Public health

Abstract Objective: To assess the efficacy of the Baby's Mouth early dental care prevention and promotion program in preventing oral diseases (caries, gingivitis, or malocclusions) in children attended since 2010. Methods: This was a cross-sectional and cohort study that assessed 252 children between 36 and 60 months of age in both sexes. The children were divided into three groups: G1: effective participants of the program from birth; G2: children who have stopped participating for more than 24 months, and G3: children who have never attended a prevention program. The evaluation was carried out in two stages: first, an interview with the mothers and, afterwards, a clinical children examination to assess the presence of caries, gingivitis, and malocclusion. The chi-squared test was used for statistical analysis between groups (p < 0.05). Results: The diseases assessed were: caries (G1: 5.9%, G2: 54.7%, G3: 70%), gingivitis (G1: 8.3%, G2: 17.9%, G3: 40.5%), and malocclusion (G1: 22.6%; G2: 28.6%; G3: 50%). For gingivitis, there was no significant difference when comparing G1 and G2 (p = 0.107), but it was significant between G1 and G3 (p < 0.001). Regarding malocclusion, a statistically significant relationship was observed (p = 0.004) among all groups. Conclusion: The prevention and promotion program in public oral health was effective in preventing caries disease, gingivitis, and malocclusion in children under 5 years of age.