Children's experiences during their first dental visit: A qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: While the child's first dental visit can shape his/her attitude towards further treatments, little consideration has been given to exploring this experience from the child's perspective. Therefore, the aim of the study was to delineate the experiences of the first dental visit of children based on self-written stories in their own words. METHODS: Qualitative study conducted as part of the oral health promoting school program in Isfahan city, Iran. Data collection was based on the responses to a question included in the programme's printed educational content. Schoolchildren were asked to explain about their experiences of their first dental visit in a story. Two researchers read the stories separately and identified concepts and themes. In a discussion panel gained consensus about the main themes. Then the researchers integrated and grouped together similar themes to new categories. Categories originating in the data provided insights into and explanations of factors that might influence the schoolchildren's experience in the dental office. Sampling continued until saturation, when no new codes appeared in the data. The childrens' stories were imported in the MAXQD software and analyzed to retrieve the main categories and themes. RESULTS: Factors that influenced experiences appeared to be idiosyncratic, but could be classified into three categories: the person accompanying the child, child and dentist-related factors. Two sub-categories of the person accompanying the child were the role of person in their treatment and the types of persons accompanying them. Dentist-related factors included three more sub-themes of applied behavioral management techniques, their role in oral health education, and organization of the office environment. The three sub-themes of children's related factors were experiencing fear, remembering the details of their experience, and type of care received. CONCLUSION: Although the method was limited to the qualitative written stories of children and there was no opportunity to explore more and consider the detailed opinions by face-to-face interviews, some noticeable elements were mentioned by children. The person accompanying the child, child and dentist-related factors were three main categories obtained from the data.

Evaluation of Isfahan's Dental Students' Awareness about Preventive Dentistry.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM: The modern dentistry approach is moving toward preventive dentistry, an approach that has decreased the prevalence of caries within the past decades. Since some reports imply that dentists are not knowledgeable enough in this issue. PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate the attitude and awareness of future dental graduates toward preventive dentistry regarding gender and educational characteristics. MATERIALS AND METHOD: This cross-sectional study was performed on one hundred and forty questionnaires which were distributed among dental students of Isfahan province, Azad university of Khorasgan, Iran. Data regarding the level of awareness of dental students about preventive dentistry were recorded and analyzed by using the mean and standard deviations on scores as appropriated. RESULTS: Majority of dental students were aware about the role of sugar in caries process, while only a minority were aware about the role of fluoridated toothpaste and brushing method in caries prevention. Most of the students (82.1%) were among the group with medium level of awareness. Compared with their female counterparts, male students had more knowledge about fluoride efficacy and general hygiene role in caries process. CONCLUSION: Dental students of  the Isfahan State University and Azad University of Khorasgan had acceptable levels of awareness about the role of sugar and fluoridated water in caries process, but were not aware enough about the role of fluoridated toothpaste in preventing dental caries.

The success of fissure sealants placed by dentists and dental care professionals.

OBJECTIVE: To obtain preliminary data on the effectiveness of fissure sealants placed by dentists and dental care professionals (DCPs). RESEARCH DESIGN: Case-note review of fissure sealants provided for paediatric patients within primary dental services in South Yorkshire. PARTICIPANTS: Records were retrieved for 1,100 fissure sealants, placed on first and second permanent molars of 312 children by 25 participating dentists and 25 DCPs during 2001-2003. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Independent variables included operator details and patient-related factors including: caries experience at baseline, age, gender, and socio-economic status. The outcome variables were sealant retention and progression to caries at three years. Bivariate analyses were used to explore the role of potential factors associated with the success of fissure sealant survival. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox's regression models were used to estimate the probability of sealant success for both operator groups. RESULTS: Retention rates at three years for fissure sealants placed by dentists and DCPs were 62.4% (SD = 22.1) and 58.1% (SD = 21.5) respectively. After three years, 87.1% (SD = 9.8) and 84.2% (SD = 11.6) of teeth sealed by dentists and DCPs remained sound. Exploratory analysis found no significant difference in sealant retention or caries transformation rates according to operator type. CONCLUSIONS: On the basis of these preliminary findings, delegation of fissure sealants to DCPs would seem to be justified in view of the comparable sealant success rates achieved by dentists and DCPs. These data can now be used to inform future randomised controlled trials on the effectiveness of fissure sealants by different operator groups.

NHS dental professionals' evaluation of a child protection learning resource.

The aim of this survey was to evaluate the impact of an educational child protection resource which had been developed and made available, free of charge, to all NHS dental practices and salaried primary dental care services in England and concurrently published online. A postal questionnaire was sent to a random sample of 1000 NHS dental practices to assess whether the learning objectives of the educational resource had been met. A total of 467 questionnaires were completed (46.7% response rate). Almost two thirds of participants (63.4%) remembered receiving the Child Protection and Dental Team (CPDT) handbook or seeing the website and almost all of them had used (looked at or read) it and felt able to access it if needed. Of the 265 users, 76.2% felt it had improved their knowledge of child protection, 60.5% had adopted a child protection policy, 53.7% had identified a child protection lead and 25.8% had arranged further training as a result of using the educational resource. The findings from the evaluation indicated that the learning objectives of the CPDT educational resource had been met and highlighted ways in which the resource could be further improved to effectively meet the needs of dental professionals.

Influences on dentists' decisions to refer paediatric patients to dental hygienists and therapists for fissure sealants: a qualitative approach.

OBJECTIVES: Little is known about the delegation of care within skill mix in dentistry, therefore this study aimed to explore dentists' and dental care professionals' (DCPs') perceptions of factors that might influence the referral of paediatric patients to dental hygienists and therapists for fissure sealants. METHOD: Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 dentists and 10 DCPs. Qualitative content analysis of the interview transcripts was used to identify themes in the data. RESULTS: A predominant view was that there were no characteristics that systematically influenced the referral of patients to DCPs to place fissure sealants. However, idiosyncratic factors were said to occasionally play a role. Structural factors included use of resources, payment and contracting systems and practice characteristics. Individual patient-related factors were parents' and patients' attitudes and patient characteristics. Dentist-related factors included dentists' preferences, perceptions of DCPs, their perceived role of DCPs and providing a service to patients. CONCLUSION: This study has identified a variety of factors that may influence a dental practitioner's decision to refer child patients to DCPs for fissure sealant placement. However, these factors do not appear to be systematic.