Four-level evaluation of health promotion intervention for preventing early childhood caries: a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Early childhood caries (ECC) is the most common dental disease among children, which can affect children's primary teeth during their teething. This study evaluates an intervention for preventing early childhood caries in a pediatric population in Ahvaz, Iran. METHOD: The population of this study (IRCT2017070210804N10) consists of 104 women with 12 to 36 months of age without dental caries referred to a health care center in Ahvaz, Iran. The children were randomly assigned to either an experimental or control group in equal numbers. First, the demographic information of participants was collected through a questionnaire containing components of perceived threat, health literacy, and oral health behaviors using a valid and reliable questionnaire. The ECC status of the children was established by a dentist. Control group received "standard well baby care". The experimental group received standard well baby care in addition to educational interventions, including lecture and group discussion. After 6 months, the participant completed the questionnaire for the second time, and the children's teeth were reexamined. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 15 at a significance level of p < 0.05. RESULTS: The mean ages of women and children were 31 ± 6.68 years and 18 ± 7.21 months, respectively. Before the intervention, no significant difference was documented between the groups for the study variables, p > 0.05. However, after the intervention, a significant difference was observed between the perceived threats (41.15 ± 4.46 in the experimental group and 38.26 ± 4.21 in the control group, p = 0.001), health literacy (20.98 ± 2.15 in the experimental group and 19.76 ± 2.70 in the control group, p = 0.01), oral health behaviors (7.75 ± 2.30 in the experimental group and 6.15 ± 2.65 in the control group, p = 0.01), and the incidence of ECC (13% in the experimental group and 35% in the control group, p = 0.001). CONCLUSION: This intervention had positive effects on the perceived threat, health literacy, and health behaviors; and the intervention could reduce the incidence of ECC. The finding of this study provided a suggestion for evidence-based decision-making processes regarding ECCs prevention programs. TRIAL REGISTRATION: IRCT2017070210804N10 (retrospectively registered).

Evaluation and comparison of mineral trioxide aggregate and cold ceramic in primary tooth pulpotomy: Clinical and radiographic study.

Aim: In recent years, many studies have been conducted on different materials for covering the pulp in pulpotomy. Recently, some materials such as Coldceram have been introduced that have the ability to regenerate the pulp. In this study, our aim was to compare the clinical and radiographic success of the pulpotomy of milk molars using MTA and Coldceram over 3-, 6-, and 9-month follow-ups. Methods: In this clinical trial, 42 children aged 4-9 years old who fulfilled the inclusion criteria of the study were selected. Finally, pulpotomy was conducted on 42 teeth using MTA and another 42 teeth using Coldceram in these children. Simultaneously, all teeth were permanently repaired using glass ionomer and metal veneers in the same treatment session. Then, clinical and radiographic evaluation was conducted in 3-, 6-, and 9-month follow-up periods. Results: None of the teeth showed clinical symptoms at the specified 3-, 6-, and 9-month follow-up times, and clinical success was 100% in both groups. In radiographic evaluation, the numbers of successful treatments were 42/42 (100%) and 41/42 (97%) for the teeth treated with MTA and Coldceram, respectively. Conclusion: According to this research, both materials were proven to have a 100% clinical success rate, but in the radiographic evaluation, MTA attained a higher success rate compared with Coldceram; however, this difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.36). It is recommended to consider longer follow-ups and larger sample sizes in future studies.