Discriminant validity of the CAST instrument compared to the dmf index in the deciduous dentition: a cross sectional study

Abstract This study aimed to assess the discriminant validity of the Caries Assessment Spectrum and Treatment (CAST) at different thresholds, compared with the Decayed, Missing, and Filled Teeth Index (dmf) instrument, to discriminate caries risk factors. A cross-sectional study was conducted including children aged 2-5 years from preschools in Southern Brazil. Parents answered a questionnaire, and children were clinically examined using the CAST instrument and, in the following weeks, using the dmf index. Two caries thresholds were adopted for CAST: caries in dentin (CAST4-7/CAST2,4-8) and enamel caries (CAST3-7/CAST2-8). Poisson regression was used in the analysis (p < 0.05). A total of 200 children were included. The prevalence of caries was 47.0% with dmf, 42.5% with CAST4-7, and 77.5% with CAST3-7. When the outcome was caries prevalence, CAST4-7 discriminated between sexes, household crowding, and dental pain, and CAST3-7 discriminated age and family income, while the dmf was associated with dental pain. When experience of caries was the outcome, all the criteria discriminated between sexes, age, family income, household overcrowding, visible dental plaque, and dental pain, while dmf and CAST2-8 also discriminated maternal schooling. The CAST discriminated caries risk factors similar to the dmf index when caries experience was the outcome. When prevalence was considered, CAST was able to discriminate for more individual characteristics than dmf.

Methods and logistics of an oral health cohort of university students from Pelotas, a Brazilian Southern city

Aim: This paper aimed to describe the methodological aspects in the baseline of university students' cohort in a public university in southern Brazil. Methods: A multidisciplinary study was carried out assessing the psychosocial and oral health conditions of university students at the Federal University of Pelotas (UFPel). All new university students who have entered in in UFPel in the first semester of 2016 year were invited to participate. Two self-administered questionnaires were applied in classrooms. Descriptive analysis was performed using Stata 14.0. Results: A total of 3,237 students were eligible. Of these, 2,089 (64.5%) signed the consent form to participate of the study and answered the general questionnaires, and 2,052 (63.4%) students answered the confidential questionnaire. Refuses represented only 1.4% (n=29) of the total sample. Overall, most of the sample was female (52.2%), with age ranging from 18 to 24 years (66.1%), with white skin color (74.1%) and with mothers with educational level at university course (32.4%). A total, 62% reported a family income between 1001.00 and 5000.00 BRL, while only 16.3% reported being from low-income family (≤ 1000.00 BRL). The UFPel offers 63 classroom-based courses classified in nine areas of knowledge. The Applied Social Sciences area comprised 19% of the sample followed by the Linguistics, Letters and Arts (17%) area and the Health sciences area (13%). Conclusion: To the knowledge of researchers, this was the first cohort study of university students in the South of Brazil including more than two thousand participants. This paper described strategies adopted to optimize and to allow data collection in the baseline and in the next follow-ups

Efetividade de mantedores de espaço em odontopediatria: revisão sistemática / Effectiveness of space maintainers in pediatric dentistry: a systematic review

Objetivo: o objetivo deste estudo é avaliar por meio de revisão sistemática a efetividade dos dispositivos na manutenção do espaço para dentes permanentes quando da perda precoce do dente decíduo. Materiais e método: realizou-se uma pesquisa bibliográfica de estudos publicados até março de 2014, principalmente nas bases de dados PubMed e SciELO. Os critérios para seleção foram: estudos em ensaios clínicos randomizados (ECR) e ensaios clínicos controlados (ECC), com crianças de seis a doze anos com dentição decídua ou mista, com perda precoce de dentes decíduos na região anterior e/ou posterior. Foram considerados todos os tipos de mantedores de espaço tanto removíveis quanto fixos. Os desfechos considerados foram avaliação clínica, radiográfica e/ou análise de modelos. A análise dos textos e a coleta de dados foram realizadas por dois revisores de forma independente. Resultados: a busca resultou em um total de 438 artigos, após a remoção das duplicatas, e apenas um contemplou todos os critérios de inclusão. O artigo que preencheu os critérios comparou dois diâmetros de fio ortodôntico utilizados para a confecção do aparelho mantedor de espaço, arco lingual, referindo que o mais efetivo foi confeccionado com fio de menor calibre (0,9 mm) quandocomparado ao de maior calibre (1,25 mm). Essa diferença ocorreu devido às falhas que ocorrem com maior frequência no dispositivo de maior calibre. Considerações finais: evidenciou-se, por meio deste estudo, que devido à carência de ensaios clínicos, não é possível definir o mantedor de espaço mais efetivo, o que torna necessário o desenvolvimento de novos estudos com delineamentos adequados para responder essa questãode forma precisa.