Dental Caries in Children
Conditions
Keywords
Dental caries, Oral health literacy
Brief summary
This study aimed to compare the impact of anticipatory guidance on the caries incidence of 2-3-year-old preschool children and their 4-6-year-old siblings, as well as on their mothers' oral health literacy, as compared to the conventional Ministry of Health (MOH) programme.
Detailed description
This quasi-experimental study was conducted at two government dental clinics in Batu Pahat District, Malaysia. The samples comprised of 478 mother-child-sibling trios (233 families in the intervention group, and 245 families in the control group). An oral health package named the Family Dental Wellness Programme (FDWP) was designed to provide anticipatory guidance to the intervention group at six-month intervals over three years. The control group received the standard MOH oral health education activities. The impact of FDWP on net caries increment, caries prevented fraction, and mother's oral health literacy was assessed after three years of intervention.
Interventions
OTHERDental health education
Anticipatory guidance given to mothers to promote their children's oral health.
Sponsors
University of Malaya
Study design
Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Masking description
Both investigators and participants knew about the intervention and who were involved.
Intervention model description
The model is an oral health education package that covers the following aspects: (i) cognitive component (for example, the provision of basic oral health knowledge using an anticipatory guidance technique); (ii) psychomotor component (for example, the demonstration of basic oral health skills such as toothbrushing skills with a hands-on practical); and (iii) attitude component (activities that help to improve the children's attitude towards oral health). Children (along with their older siblings and mothers) in the study group were required to make six-monthly visits to the dental clinic in the three-year study period. Those in the control group received the conventional Ministry of Health programme.
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
2 Years to 6 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Children between the age of 2-3 years old * Older sibling aged 4 to 6 years categorized as having high caries risk based on a Caries Risk Assessment tool adapted from the American Association of Paediatric Dentistry * Mothers who were willing to participate in the study
Exclusion criteria
• Medically compromised children
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Incidence of dental caries | Baseline and 3 years | Change from baseline dental caries prevalence at 3 years using visual and tactile examination |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Mothers' oral health literacy | Baseline and 3 years | Changes in mothers' oral health literacy at 3 year follow up using a validated Dental Health Literacy instruments |
Countries
Malaysia
Outcome results
None listed