Retention of dental sealants placed on sound teeth and incipient caries lesions as part of a service-learning programme in rural areas in Mexico.

BACKGROUND: Dental sealants are an effective treatment for the prevention and management of caries. OBJECTIVE: To determine the retention of sealants placed in a rural setting in Mexico as part of an international service-learning (ISL) programme and to determine associations between dental sealant's retention and caries diagnosis at the time of sealant placement. METHODS: Children aged 6-15 were examined for dental caries, received sealants by dental students as part of an ISL programme, and were re-examined 4, 2, or 1 years after placement to assess sealant survival. Sealants were placed on permanent sound surfaces and enamel caries lesions [International Caries Assessment and Detection System (ICDAS) criteria]. Sealant survival was explored using Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel tests and multivariate prediction models. RESULTS: 219 (46%) of 478 (mean age = 10.53 SD = 5.11) children who had received sealants returned for a recall examination (mean age = 10.89 SD = 3.11). After 1-4 years, 96.4% to 60.6% of the sealants placed on sound teeth had survived, and for sealants placed on surfaces with enamel caries lesions (ICDAS 1-3), 94.2% to 55.6% had survived. Differences were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Sealants had survival rates comparable to those previously reported in the literature. Sealants placed on sound and enamel caries lesions had similar survival rates.

Caries prevalence and its association with brushing habits, water availability, and the intake of sugared beverages.

BACKGROUND. With Dental Caries being the most common disease amongst children in the world today, there is a need to fully understand risk factors that may be related to caries prevalence and how they could be best addressed. AIM. The aim of this study was to evaluate soda, juice, sugared-beverage intake, brushing habits, and community water source availability as they relate to the prevalence of both noncavitated and cavitated caries lesions in small rural villages in Mexico. DESIGN. The International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS) was used in children from small, isolated, villages in Mexico. Risk factors were assessed via questionnaires. RESULTS. Caries prevalence in the villages was very high, ranging from 94.7% to 100% of the children studied. The mean number of surfaces with lesions per child (D1MFS + d1mfs) having scores ≥1 (noncavitated and cavitated) ranged from 15.4 ± 11.1 to 26.6 ± 15.2. Many of the children reported drinking beverages containing sugar. CONCLUSIONS. Drinking sugared beverages, poor oral hygiene habits, and lack of access to tap water were identified as risk factor for caries in this sample of residents of rural Mexico.