Children's dental health under the capitation scheme

A study was undertaken of the dental health of 7870 eight-year-old children resident in the the City of Birmingham, using the standard British Association of Community Dentistry epidemiological procedures. There were variations in the dental health of children from different ethnic backgrounds. Asian children had the poorest dental health and Afro-Caribbean children, the best. There were also variations in the dental health of children from different ACORN Category 'Thriving' had better dental health than those from the lowest, 'Striving' Category. Positive consent was obtained from every parent or guardian to link the findings with the Dental Practice Board's records as to whether each child was registered under the NHS capitation scheme, (54.5 per cent), was compared with those who were not, (45.5 percent). The highest proportion of children registered with a dentist were Caucasian and from a high social class i.e. ACORN Category 'Thriving'. In order to ensure that differences were due to their capitation status and not to other differences within the groups, analyses were undertaken according to the ethnic background and ACORN Category of the children. Overall, there were only very small differences between the caries state of the registered and non registered children. However, 32 percent of those children registered in the scheme still had active decay which was not restricted to primary dentition. The greatest reduction in the average number of decayed teeth together with the greatest increase in the average number of fillings in registered children when compared with their non registered colleagues was observed in the lowest ACORN Category 'Thriving'. However in the ACORN Category 'Striving', there was a higher proportion of children with good oral hygiene amongst those who were registered than amongst those who were not. Provision of preventive treatment was low in all registered and non registered groups, but lowest in those groups of children with the poorest dental health. It would appear that, for a proportion of children registered in the capitation scheme, the practitioners were failing to acheive the requirement of securing and maintaining their oral health(AU)

Prevalence of dental caries in 12-year old school children in Antigua - abstract

In 1987, an epidemiological study was done to determine the prevalence of dental caries in 12-year-old school children in Antigua. Seventeen schools were randomly selected, and all children in their 12th year of age were enrolled in the study. There were 159 (42 per cent) boys and 218 (58 per cent) girls for a total of 377. Children were examined in the supine position in a chair at the school. The extent of caries were determined, using the criteria of dentinal involvement. The mean number of decayed, missing and filled teeth (DMF) per child was 0.7. Sixty-eight per cent of children were free of caries-, 20 per cent had 53 per cent decayed teeth, 10 per cent had 12 per cent of missing teeth, and 2 per cent of children had 5 per cent of filled teeth. It was concluded that the prevalence of dental caries in 12-year-old school children was low (AU)

Periodontitis in Jamaican children 13 years of age - abstract

A cohort study of forty-five Jamaican children, aged 13 years, was conducted to examine the periodontal findings of an epidemiology survey of the previous year. All subjects had, in the field survey, at least one index tooth probed to a depth exceeding 3.5 mm, indicating loss of epithelia attachment. A World Health Organization designed peridontal probe was used to assess sulcular bleeding, calculus and probing depth on six index teeth. Anterior and posterior teeth were radiographed. Active peridontal disease is indicated by the presence of bleeding upon probing (97.8 percent) and subgingival calculus (41.5 percent) in the sites with indicated loss of junctional epithelium. Digital imaging software used to analyse the radiographs indicated alveolar bone loss greater than 2 mm in 93.3 percent of subjects and greater than 3 mm in 42.2 percent. The insignificant difference (p=.08) between alveolar bone loss in molar versus premolar sites is strongly suggestive of a generalized form of periodontitis (AU)