Evaluation of effect of oral health intervention on children in Shaoshan area of Hunan province / 北京大学学报(医学版)

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE@#To understand the oral health status of children aged 3-12 in Shaoshan area of Hunan province and to evaluate the role of oral health educations based on community such as fluoride varnish, oral hygiene introduction in improving the oral health of children in the area so as to gain expe-rience.@*METHODS@#The study used cluster sampling to select 3 kindergartens and 2 primary schools in different economic development areas of Shaoshan. Oral health status survey and interventions were conducted in December 2014 and September 2016, respectively. The average debris index, decayed missing filled teeth (deciduous teeth dmft; permanent teeth DMFT), and caries prevalence rate of children aged 3-6 years and 6-12 years were compared. At the same time, children aged 5 and 12 were used as representative populations to compare the indices as listed before and the caries prevalence rate of the first permanent molar in 12-year-old children was compared as well. Finally, health economic analysis was carried out based on the 2 years' result.@*RESULTS@#In this study, 992 children and 896 children in 2014 and 2016 were included respectively. As for children aged 3-6 years, the average debris index and dmft in 2016 were significantly less than that in 2014 (P < 0.001, P < 0.001), and the difference of DMFT was not significant (P=0.419). Children aged 6-12 years showed the same result, the average debris index and dmft in 2016 were significantly less than those in 2014 (P < 0.001, P=0.013), and the difference in DMFT was not significant (P=0.674). 173 and 179 5-year-old children were included in 2014 and 2016 respectively, and the dmft showed significant difference (P=0.038); the caries prevalence rate was 75.7% and 71.5%, respectively, which was also not significant (P=0.370). With respect to the 12-year-old children, 65 and 104 children were included and the differences in dmft and DMFT were not significant (P=0.133, P=0.171). The caries prevalence of the first permanent molar in the 12-year-old children was 36.9% and 26.9%, whose difference was not significant (P=0.171).@*CONCLUSION@#The application of fluoride varnish and oral health education can significantly reduce the dmft of children aged 3-12 years in Shaoshan area and significantly improve the oral hygiene status. DMFT, the caries prevalence rate of 5-year-old children's deciduous teeth and 12-year-old children's first permanent molar showed a decline.