School dental screening programmes for oral health.

BACKGROUND: School dental screening refers to visual inspection of children's oral cavity in a school setting followed by making parents aware of their child's current oral health status and treatment needs. Screening at school intends to identify children at an earlier stage than symptomatic disease presentation, hence prompting preventive and therapeutic oral health care for the children. This review evaluates the effectiveness of school dental screening in improving oral health status. It is an update of the original review, which was first published in December 2017. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effectiveness of school dental screening programmes on overall oral health status and use of dental services. SEARCH METHODS: Cochrane Oral Health's Information Specialist searched the following databases: Cochrane Oral Health's Trials Register (to 4 March 2019), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL, the Cochrane Register of Studies, to 4 March 2019), MEDLINE Ovid (1946 to 4 March 2019), and Embase Ovid (15 September 2016 to 4 March 2019). The US National Institutes of Health Trials Registry (ClinicalTrials.gov) and the World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform were searched for ongoing trials. No restrictions were placed on language or publication status when searching the electronic databases; however, the search of Embase was restricted to the last six months due to the Cochrane Centralised Search Project to identify all clinical trials and add them to CENTRAL. SELECTION CRITERIA: We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs) (cluster or parallel) that evaluated school dental screening compared with no intervention or with one type of screening compared with another. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: We used standard methodological procedures expected by Cochrane. MAIN RESULTS: We included seven trials (five were cluster-RCTs) with 20,192 children who were 4 to 15 years of age. Trials assessed follow-up periods of three to eight months. Four trials were conducted in the UK, two were based in India and one in the USA. We assessed two trials to be at low risk of bias, two trials to be at high risk of bias and three trials to be at unclear risk of bias.None of the trials had long-term follow-up to ascertain the lasting effects of school dental screening.None of the trials reported the proportion of children with untreated caries or other oral diseases, cost effectiveness or adverse events.Four trials evaluated traditional screening versus no screening. We performed a meta-analysis for the outcome 'dental attendance' and found an inconclusive result with high heterogeneity. The heterogeneity was found to be, in part, due to study design (three cluster-RCTs and one individual-level RCT). Due to the inconsistency, we downgraded the evidence to 'very low certainty' and are unable to draw conclusions about this comparison.Two cluster-RCTs (both four-arm trials) evaluated criteria-based screening versus no screening and showed a pooled effect estimate of RR 1.07 (95% CI 0.99 to 1.16), suggesting a possible benefit for screening (low-certainty evidence). There was no evidence of a difference when criteria-based screening was compared to traditional screening (RR 1.01, 95% CI 0.94 to 1.08) (very low-certainty evidence).In one trial, a specific (personalised) referral letter was compared to a non-specific one. Results favoured the specific referral letter with an effect estimate of RR 1.39 (95% CI 1.09 to 1.77) for attendance at general dentist services and effect estimate of RR 1.90 (95% CI 1.18 to 3.06) for attendance at specialist orthodontist services (low-certainty evidence).One trial compared screening supplemented with motivation to screening alone. Dental attendance was more likely after screening supplemented with motivation, with an effect estimate of RR 3.08 (95% CI 2.57 to 3.71) (low-certainty evidence).Only one trial reported the proportion of children with treated dental caries. This trial evaluated a post screening referral letter based on the common-sense model of self-regulation (a theoretical framework that explains how people understand and respond to threats to their health), with or without a dental information guide, compared to a standard referral letter. The findings were inconclusive. Due to high risk of bias, indirectness and imprecision, we assessed the evidence as very low certainty. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: The trials included in this review evaluated short-term effects of screening. We found very low-certainty evidence that is insufficient to allow us to draw conclusions about whether there is a role for traditional school dental screening in improving dental attendance. For criteria-based screening, we found low-certainty evidence that it may improve dental attendance when compared to no screening. However, when compared to traditional screening, there is no evidence of a difference in dental attendance (very low-certainty evidence).We found low-certainty evidence to conclude that personalised or specific referral letters may improve dental attendance when compared to non-specific counterparts. We also found low-certainty evidence that screening supplemented with motivation (oral health education and offer of free treatment) may improve dental attendance in comparison to screening alone. For children requiring treatment, we found very-low certainty evidence that was inconclusive regarding whether or not a referral letter based on the 'common-sense model of self-regulation' was better than a standard referral letter.We did not find any trials addressing possible adverse effects of school dental screening or evaluating its effectiveness for improving oral health.

School dental screening programmes for oral health.

BACKGROUND: School dental screening refers to visual inspection of children's oral cavity in a school setting followed by making parents aware of their child's current oral health status and treatment needs. Screening at school intends to identify children at an earlier stage than symptomatic disease presentation, hence prompting preventive and therapeutic oral health care for the children. This review evaluates the effectiveness of school dental screening in improving oral health status. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effectiveness of school dental screening programmes on overall oral health status and use of dental services. SEARCH METHODS: Cochrane Oral Health's Information Specialist searched the following databases: Cochrane Oral Health's Trials Register (to 15 March 2017), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL, the Cochrane Register of Studies, to 15 March 2017), MEDLINE Ovid (1946 to 15 March 2017), and Embase Ovid (15 September 2016 to 15 March 2017). The US National Institutes of Health Trials Registry (ClinicalTrials.gov) and the World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform were searched for ongoing trials. No restrictions were placed on language or publication status when searching the electronic databases; however, the search of Embase was restricted to the last six months due to the Cochrane Centralised Search Project to identify all clinical trials and add them to CENTRAL. SELECTION CRITERIA: We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs) (cluster or parallel) that evaluated school dental screening compared with no intervention or with one type of screening compared with another. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: We used standard methodological procedures expected by Cochrane. MAIN RESULTS: We included six trials (four were cluster-RCTs) with 19,498 children who were 4 to 15 years of age. Four trials were conducted in the UK and two were based in India. We assessed two trials to be at low risk of bias, one trial to be at high risk of bias and three trials to be at unclear risk of bias.None of the six trials reported the proportion of children with untreated caries or other oral diseases.Four trials evaluated traditional screening versus no screening. We performed a meta-analysis for the outcome 'dental attendance' and found an inconclusive result with high heterogeneity. The heterogeneity was found it to be, in part, due to study design (three cluster-RCTs and one individual-level RCT). Due to the inconsistency, we downgraded the evidence to 'very low certainty' and are unable to draw conclusions about this comparison.Two cluster-RCTs (both four-arm trials) evaluated criteria-based screening versus no screening and showed a pooled effect estimate of RR 1.07 (95% CI 0.99 to 1.16), suggesting a possible benefit for screening (low-certainty evidence). There was no evidence of a difference when criteria-based screening was compared to traditional screening (RR 1.01, 95% CI 0.94 to 1.08) (very low-certainty evidence).In one trial, a specific (personalised) referral letter was compared to a non-specific one. Results favoured the specific referral letter with an effect estimate of RR 1.39 (95% CI 1.09 to 1.77) for attendance at general dentist services and effect estimate of RR 1.90 (95% CI 1.18 to 3.06) for attendance at specialist orthodontist services (low-certainty evidence).One trial compared screening supplemented with motivation to screening alone. Dental attendance was more likely after screening supplemented with motivation, with an effect estimate of RR 3.08 (95% CI 2.57 to 3.71) (low-certainty evidence).None of the trials had long-term follow-up to ascertain the lasting effects of school dental screening.None of the trials reported cost-effectiveness and adverse events. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: The trials included in this review evaluated short-term effects of screening, assessing follow-up periods of three to eight months. We found very low certainty evidence that was insufficient to allow us to draw conclusions about whether there is a role for traditional school dental screening in improving dental attendance. For criteria-based screening, we found low-certainty evidence that it may improve dental attendance when compared to no screening. However, when compared to traditional screening there was no evidence of a difference in dental attendance (very low-certainty evidence).We found low-certainty evidence to conclude that personalised or specific referral letters improve dental attendance when compared to non-specific counterparts. We also found low-certainty evidence that screening supplemented with motivation (oral health education and offer of free treatment) improves dental attendance in comparison to screening alone.We did not find any trials addressing cost-effectiveness and adverse effects of school dental screening.

[The Intensified Dental Preventive Programme in Rhineland-Palatinate: Investigations on first-grade school-children in 2013/2014]. / Die zahnärztliche selektive Intensivprophylaxe in Rheinland-Pfalz: Untersuchungen an Erstklässlern im Schuljahr 2013/2014.

Aim: For children and adolescents at increased risk of caries, the "Selective Intensive Prophylaxis" (SIP) programme was established in Rhineland-Palatinate in 2004, as well as in the most other German states. This study compares the results of the school dentists' evaluations of first grade school children in 2013/2014 participating in the "Selective Intensive Prophylaxis" (SIP) programme or the "Standard Programme" (SP). Methods: The d3mft/D3MFT index was recorded by school dentists according to the WHO criteria; caries was diagnosed if dentin was affected; no radiography or fiber-optic transillumination was used. The examinations were performed once under the SP and twice under the SIP. Children and parents were informed in case of a need for treatment and reminded if the did not see the family dentist. Out of the evaluated d3mft/D3MFT values, the Significant Caries Index (SiC) was calculated. Statistical computing was performed using SPSS 22.00. Results: Of all first graders, n=25 020 were evaluable for d3mft/D3MFT. Altogether n=1 164 first graders were included into the SIP in the 2013/2014 term; for n=1 002 of those, the results for both examinations were available. The caries experience of those pupils participating in the SIP was clearly higher than in the SP (41.8% naturally healthy vs. 61.7%, p<0.0001). There was significant difference between the first and second examination in the SIP, especially with respect to individual (16.0 vs. 23.0%, p<0.0001) and tooth-related (43.2 vs. 54.2%, p<0.0001) level of restoration. Conclusion: The results show that the SIP in Rhineland-Palatinate is conducted in a population with high caries experience. The significant difference concerning the dental restoration level, both individual- and teeth-related - leads to the conclusion that children frequently sought dental treatment if a need for treatment was diagnosed by the school dentist.

Study on frequency of dental developmental alterations in a Mexican school-based population

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to know the distribution of dental developmental alterations in the population requesting stomatological attention at the Admission and Diagnosis Clinic of our institution in Mexico City. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We reviewed the archives and selected those files with developmental dental alterations. Analyzed data were diagnoses, age, gender, location and number of involved teeth. RESULTS: Of the 3.522 patients reviewed, 179 (5.1%) harbored 394 developmental dental alterations. Of them, 45.2% were males and 54.8% were females with a mean age of 16.7 years. The most common were supernumeraries, dental agenesia and dilaceration. Adults were 30.7% of the patients with dental developmental alterations. In them, the most common lesions were agenesia and supernumeraries. Mesiodens was the most frequently found supernumerary teeth (14.7%). CONCLUSIONS: Our finding that 30.7% of the affected patients were adults is an undescribed and unusually high proportion of patients that have implications on planning and prognosis of their stomatological treatment

Identifying and prioritising areas of child dental service need: a GIS-based approach.

AIM: To identify and prioritise areas of high need for dental services among the child population in metropolitan Western Australia. DESIGN: All children hospitalised due to an oral-condition from 2000 to 2009, at metropolitan areas of Perth were included in the analysis of a 10-year data set. QGIS tools mapped the residential location of each child and socioeconomic data in relation to existing services (School Dental Service clinics). RESULTS: The tables and maps provide a clear indication of specific geographical areas, where no services are located, but where high hospital-admission rates are occurring, especially among school-age children. The least-disadvantaged areas and areas of high rates of school-age child hospital-admissions were more likely to be within 2km of the clinics than not. More of high-risk-areas (socio-economically deprived areas combined with high oral-related hospital admissions rates), were found within 2km of the clinics than elsewhere. CONCLUSION: The application of GIS methodology has identified a community's current service access needs, and assisted evidence based decision making for planning and implementing changes to increase access based on risk.

[Evaluation of an Intensified Dental Preventive Programme Aimed at Children with Increased Caries Risk]. / Evaluation eines zahnmedizinischen Präventionsprogramms für Kinder mit erhöhtem Kariesrisiko.

Our study investigated the effect of a selective intensive prevention (SIP) programme on dental health of pupils in comparison to a control group. While no differences were observed in respect to dental health of first graders, the DMF-T values of fourth and 6 graders participating in SIP were significantly lower. Concerning the psychometric variables only few differences were found. The fourth and 6 graders in the test group reported less dental fear than the pupils in the control group.

Clinical oral health of Australia's rural children in a sample attending school dental services.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between children's clinical oral health status and their residential location using the latest available data (2009) and to ascertain whether poor oral health among rural children is related to being Indigenous, having less access to fluoridated water or being of lower socioeconomic status (SES), than children from urban areas. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. SETTING AND PARTICIPANT: Data were collected on 74, 467 children aged 5-12 years attending school dental services in Australia (data were not available for Victoria or New South Wales). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Clinical oral health was determined by the mean number of permanent teeth with untreated caries, missing and filled permanent teeth, and the mean decayed, missing and filled permanent teeth index (DMFT) of 8 to 12-year-old-children and the mean number deciduous teeth with untreated caries, missing and filled deciduous teeth, and the mean decayed, missing and filled deciduous teeth index (dmft) of 5-10-year-olds. RESULTS: The multivariable models that included coefficients on whether the child was Indigenous, from an area with fluoridated water and SES, were controlled for age and sex. The mean DMFT of 8-12-year-old children and the mean dmft of 5-10-year-old-children were significantly higher in rural areas compared with urban centres after accounting for Indigenous status, fluoridated water and SES. CONCLUSION: Children's oral health was poorer in rural areas than in major city areas.

Childhood oral health and SES predictors of caries in 30-year-olds.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: To assess whether childhood socio-economic status modifies the relationship between childhood caries and young adult oral health. METHODS: In 1988-1989, a total of 7,673 South Australian children aged 13 years were sampled, with 4,604 children (60.0%) and 4,476 parents (58.3%) responding. In 2005-2006, 632 baseline study participants responded (43.0% of those traced and living in Adelaide). RESULTS: Adjusted analyses showed significant interactions for card status by DMFT at age 13 for decayed, missing and filled teeth at age 30, but not for DMFT. Higher DMFT at age 13 was associated with more decayed teeth at age 30 for those with no health card, while there were similar numbers of decayed teeth for card holders regardless of their DMFT at age 13. While higher DMFT at age 13 was associated with more missing teeth at age 30 for card holders, there were similar numbers of missing teeth for those with no card regardless of their DMFT at age 13. The interaction for filled teeth showed that even though higher DMFT at age 13 was associated with more fillings at age 30 for both card holders and those with no card, this relationship was more pronounced for card holders. CONCLUSIONS: SES modified the relationship between child oral health and caries at age 30 years. Card holders at age 13 were worse off in terms of their oral health at age 30 controlling for childhood oral health, supporting social causation explanations for oral health inequalities.

National survey on school-based fluoride mouth-rinsing programme in Japan: regional spread conditions from preschool to junior high school in 2010.

AIMS: We surveyed the state of implementation of the school-based fluoride mouth-rinsing programme (S-FMR) in schools in Japan from March 2010. METHODS: Questionnaires on the implementation status of S-FMR in each type of school (including preschool and kindergarten) were sent by post to the oral health administration departments of all 47 prefectures and 89 cities (18 ordinance-designated cities, 23 special wards, 41 core cities and seven public health centres in ordinance-designated cities) with public health centres. RESULTS: The S-FMR implementation rate was low, at only 11% of all schools in Japan and only 6% of all participating school children aged 4-14 years. In many regions, the S-FMR was implemented more widely and received higher participation from children in either elementary schools and junior high schools or preschools and kindergartens. CONCLUSIONS: Inter-prefectural disparities were seen in S-FMR implementation, as some prefectures and cities did not include topical fluoride application in their health promotion plans, and some local public bodies did not include targets for fluoride mouth-rinsing. To reduce this disparity in Japan where systemic fluoride application is not performed, each local public body must consider implementing the S-FMR as a public health measure. We propose using the results of this survey as basic data for formulating S-FMR goals (numerical targets) and adopting S-FMR as a concrete measure in the second Healthy Japan 21, to be launched in the fiscal year for 2013, and within the basic matters of the Act Concerning the Promotion of Dental and Oral Health.

Preliminary evaluation of a serious game for the dissemination and public awareness on preschool children's oral health.

This article presents the preliminary evaluation by dentists, teachers and parents of a serious game for dissemination of public awareness on preschool children's oral health. In this game, the player keeps a victory condition, while your tooth remains whole. Preliminary evaluation was performed in two parts. The first part was a questionnaire designed to evaluate the applicability of this technology and the opinions on the effectiveness of games in education and in oral health promotion. In the second part, the game is presented and an evaluation questionnaire of it is applied. This study had the participation of 115 persons. There was 80% approval which suggested that the game is an alternative for the prevention of dental awareness. Furthermore, the study perceives that teachers can work together with dentists in order to perform dental prevention.

Evolución de los conocimientos y hábitos de higiene bucodental en escolares de educación primaria / Evolution of knowledge and oral hygiene habits in primary schoolchildren

Objetivo: Analizar la evolución de conocimientos y hábitos en higiene bucodental en escolares de Palencia. Método: Estudio descriptivo de tendencia en alumnos/as de 5o de Educación Primaria entre 2001 y 2011 en Palencia. Se recogen datos del cuestionario de conocimientos y hábitos del Programa de Salud Bucodental, analizados de forma descriptiva. Resultados: La tendencia ha sido de mejora en los conocimientos hasta 2006/07, para después estancarse (p <0,05). En cuanto a los hábitos, aumentan los estudiantes que declaran lavarse los dientes tres veces diarias (p <0,05). Hay un descenso en la ingesta de dulces entre horas a partir de 2004/2005, del 50,3% al 38,2% en 2010/11. Discusión: Los resultados del programa parecen ser positivos. La mejora de los conocimientos y hábitos en higiene bucodental, así como su contenido coste, estimulan a continuar trabajando en esta línea (AU)

Objective: To analyze the evolution of knowledge and habits to oral hygiene children and adolescents in Palencia (Spain). Methods: A descriptive study of trend. The population of students from grade 5 of primary education between 2001/11 of the Palencia. Questionnaire data are collected knowledge and habits of the Oral Health Program, which are analyzed descriptively. Results: The trend has been improving knowledge until 2006/07, after stagnating (p <0.05). In habits, increase students declare brushing teeth three times a day (p <0.05). There is a decrease in the consumption of candies between hours from 2004/2005, from 50,3% to 38,2% in 2010/11. Discussion: The results of the program seem to be positive. Increasing knowledge and improving habits related to oral health health they stimulate to continuing being employed at this line (AU)

Pilot survey on dental health in 5-12-year-old school children in Laos.

AIM: The burden of dental caries in young Lao children is high. As a result, these children suffer from toothache, and school absenteeism is high. There is a need for the Lao Government to develop a strategy to prevent dental disease, such as caries. The aim of this study was to collect data on the oral health status of PDR children in order to enable the Lao Government to develop strategies on dental health care. METHODS: An oral examination, following World Health Organization guidelines, was performed on 289 school children aged 5-12 years in Vientiane, Laos. RESULTS: Caries prevalence was high in the present sample (average = 85.4%), as well as mean decayed, missing, and filled teeth index (primary and secondary) levels. Nearly all caries were untreated. A trend was observed showing lower caries levels in children who brushed their teeth daily at school. CONCLUSIONS: The burden of dental caries for Loa children is high, while the oral care index is nearly zero. Clearly, this has serious resource and management implications, and the strategy of the government must be on prevention (at a young age), awareness of oral diseases, pain relief. More than anything else, prompt action is required.

Promoting oral health of children through schools--results from a WHO global survey 2012.

This paper reviews the range of school-based approaches to oral health and describes what is meant by a Health Promoting School. The paper then reports the results of a World Health Organization global survey of school-based health promotion. Purposive sampling across 100 countries produced 108 evaluations of school oral health projects spread across 61 countries around the globe. The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion noted that schools can provide a supportive environment for promoting children's health. However, while a number of well-known strategies are being applied, the full range of health promoting actions is not being used globally. A greater emphasis on integrated health promotion is advised in place of narrower, disease- or project-specific approaches. Recommendations are made for improving this situation, for further research and for specifying an operational framework for sharing experiences and research.

National supervised toothbrushing program and dental decay in Scotland.

We aimed to assess the association between the roll-out of the national nursery toothbrushing program and a reduction in dental decay in five-year-old children in a Scotland-wide population study. The intervention was supervised toothbrushing in nurseries and distribution of fluoride toothpaste and toothbrushes for home use, measured as the percentage of nurseries participating in each health service administrative board area. The endpoint was mean d(3)mft in 99,071 five-year-old children, covering 7% to 25% of the relevant population (in various years), who participated in multiple cross-sectional dental epidemiology surveys in 1987 to 2009. The slope of the uptake in toothbrushing was correlated with the slope in the reduction of d(3)mft. The mean d(3)mft in Years -2 to 0 (relative to that in start-up Year 0) was 3.06, reducing to 2.07 in Years 10 to 12 (difference = -0.99; 95% CI -1.08, -0.90; p < 0.001). The uptake of toothbrushing correlated with the decline in d(3)mft (correlation = -0.64; -0.86, -0.16; p = 0.011). The result improved when one outlying Health Board was excluded (correlation = -0.90; -0.97, -0.70; p < 0.0001). An improvement in the dental health of five-year-olds was detected and is associated with the uptake of nursery toothbrushing.

Measuring the oral health of populations.

OBJECTIVES: This article provides a conceptual base for population oral health measurement and argues that problems associated with particular indices are subject to the basic issues of knowing what to measure and the level of measurement required to address the object of study and provide clear information about the health of the population as a whole. METHODS: Alternative approaches to caries measurement are presented using data from South Australian children attending the school dental services during 2007. RESULTS: While threshold selection of case definitions depicted different profiles of the same population, the inclusion of non-cavitated lesions did not alter the general disease profile of the population. CONCLUSIONS: The types of measures used depend on the purpose, nature of the data, and conceptualization of the phenomenon, and should continually refer to the population level. In population oral health, controversies surrounding outcome measures, such as caries indices, are moving away from addressing core issues to narrowing mechanistic views. Fundamental deliberations should include the valuation of health states, clearly defining health and disease and distinguishing between disease, determinants and the impacts of disease.

Dental caries in Mexican schoolchildren: a comparison of 1988-1989 and 1998-2001 surveys

Objectives: To compare two surveys across seven states for the prevalence of dental caries among Mexican schoolchildren. Study Design: Analysis of two cross-sectional surveys: Schoolchildren from 6 to 10 years of age were examined in the 1988-1989 survey and 6- to 10-year-old and 12-year-old students were included in the 1998-2001 survey. The baseline data of seven states were available for analysis. Representative probability samples were conducted statewide in both surveys. The World Health Organization (WHO) method was used to obtain the dental caries index (dmft, DMFT). At present, additional and more recent epidemiological data representative statewide in Mexico are unavailable. Results: The participants were 9798 schoolchildren in the 1988-1989 survey and 16882 schoolchildren in the 1998-2001 survey. The prevalence of caries in children ages 6 to 10 years was 86,6% in the first survey and 65,5% in the second survey, showing a 24,4% reduction. The primary teeth index in the first survey was dmft = 3,86 (IC95% 3,68 4,04) and in permanent teeth, it was DMFT = 1,03 (IC95% 0,95 1,11). In the second survey, the comparable values were dmft = 2,36 (IC95% 2,20 2,52) and DMFT = 0,35 (IC95% 0,29 0,40), corresponding to a reduction of 38,89% and 66,02% in the primary and permanent dentition, respectively. Treatment needs remain high: In the second survey, as 92,75% of the index DMFT was conformed as decayed teeth.Conclusion: Overall, we detected a downward trend in the dental caries indices, particularly in the permanent dentition. The increase in the availability of fluoride likely contributed to the observed decline in dental caries (AU)

Prevalence of traumatic dental injuries and role of incisal overjet andinadequate lip coverage as risk factors among 4-15 years old governmentschool children in Baddi-Barotiwala Area, Himachal Pradesh, India

Objective: To assess the prevalence of traumatic dental injuries (TDI) in school children in Baddi- Barotiwala,Himachal Pradesh, India.Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out in Government schools among 1059 government school childrenaged 4- 15 years. The study was conducted from October 2009 to March 2010 during the school hours. The demographic detail was carried on a structured questionnaire. The data regarding the traumatic injuries was recorded using modified Ellis’ classification.Results: Prevalence of TDI was found to be 4.15 %. 95.45% of the injuries were to the maxillary anterior teeth.Maxillary central incisor was the most common tooth to be affected due to trauma (54.5 %). Enamel with dentinfracture with pulp exposure was the main type of TDI (43.1%). The majority of TDIs were untreated (97.7 %).Falls (54.5%) were found to be the main cause. Over jet over 3 mm and inadequate lip coverage were found to beimportant contributing factors for TDIs.Conclusion: The present study revealed a relatively low prevalence of dental trauma, but still this figure represents a large number of children. Therefore, educational programs are to be initiated for the community regarding causes, prevention and treatment of traumatic dental injuries. It is crucial to generate considerable efforts to implement health promotion strategies to reverse the observed trends and to provide treatment to TDIs to prevent their biologic and psychological consequences (AU)

Survival of occlusal ART restorations in primary molars placed in school environment and hospital dental setup-one year follow-up study

Objective: The objectives of this clinical study were to: evaluate the survival of occlusal atraumatic restorativetreatment (ART) restorations, on a longitudinal basis, in the primary molars of children; and compare the successrate of ART restorations placed in school environment and in hospital dental setup.Study design: One dentist placed 120 ART restorations in 60 five- to seven year-olds who had bilateral matchedpairs of carious primary molars. A split-mouth design was used to place restorations in school and in hospital dental setup, which were assigned randomly to contralateral sides. Restorations were evaluated after 6 and 12 months using the ART criteria.Results: The survival rate of ART restorations placed in school environment was 82.2% at the 6-month assessmentand 77.77% at the 12-month assessment. The success rates of ART restorations placed in hospital dental setup inthe 2 assessments were 87.7% and 81.48%, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference between the ART restorations placed in school environment and hospital dental setup in both assessments (P>O.05). The main cause of failure was the loss of restoration.Conclusions: The one year success rate of occlusal ART restorations in primary molars was moderately successful.The ART technique’s done in hospital dental setup was not proven to be better than restorations placed in school environment (AU)