None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Dental decay has been described as the most common disease of childhood that is not self-limiting or responsive to short-term pharmacological management. Regrettably, Australian Aboriginal children have, on average, twice as many teeth affected by decay as other Australian children. The disease is a particular burden for pre-school children who do not routinely have access to dental care provided by the state/territory programs. The goal of this project is to develop, implement and evaluate the effectiveness of a community-oriented, primary health care intervention to prevent dental decay among pre-school children in Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory. The cluster randomized design provides a practical approach to the problem of small numbers of children living in remote communities. The results obtained from this research proposal would make an important contribution to the health care of Australian Aboriginal children and other disadvantaged children throughout the world.
Interventions
A comprehensive primary health intervention (including fluoride varnish applications every 6 months). The fluoride varnish is applied at baselines and every 6 months for a total of 2 years (5 applications). Other intervention activities also occur every 6 months- these include training of health staff in oral health promotion, identification of caries, and application of fluoride varnish, oral health promotion with individual familes, and oral health promotion with child care centres, preschoo
A comprehensive primary health intervention (including fluoride varnish applications every 6 months). The fluoride varnish is applied at baselines and every 6 months for a total of 2 years (5 applications). Other intervention activities also occur every 6 months- these include training of health staff in oral health promotion, identification of caries, and application of fluoride varnish, oral health promotion with individual familes, and oral health promotion with child care centres, preschools, communitiy councils, and stores.
Sponsors
Menzies School of Health Research
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Prevention
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Months to 4 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Aboriginal Aged 18m to 4y Living in a remote community Able to attend clinic for regular follow up
Exclusion criteria
Allergy to fluoride varnish Receiving treatment for asthma Congenital dental disease
Outcome results
None listed