A proposal for an oral health educational programme for the first 1000 days of life: from pregnancy to childhood.

AIM: The aim of this paper is to highlight the need to consider oral health during the first 1000 days of a child's life with a view to developing appropriate educational programmes. CONTEXT: The first 1000 days of life represent a window of opportunity for prevention in children. This concept is built on a consideration of the overall health of mother and child, taking into account social inequalities in health. It is now established that the oral health of the mother determines the oral health of her child. Furthermore, parents' knowledge and behaviour have a direct influence on their child's health. CONCLUSION: The majority of the population does not have the necessary skills to adopt behaviours that promote oral health. The need for oral health education begins in the first 1000 days of life. Following the model of family health education, these programmes would involve providing pregnant women and, therefore, families with the skills they need to manage their own oral health and that of their future child as early as possible.

Effect on undergraduate student self-confidence in using 3D printed primary molars for root canal treatment simulation training.

PURPOSE: The main purpose of this study was to assess the effect of a root canal treatment (RCT) practical simulation-based session using 3D printed primary molars on the self-confidence of fourth-year undergraduate dental students. Our study was also designed to explore student experiences with both manual and rotary RCT procedures and to investigate the association between the self-confidence in undertaking an RCT and the quality of the RCT. METHODS: Student global self-confidence in undertaking an RCT on a healthy, cooperative child aged 4-5 years was evaluated 2 h before, 1 month after, and 11 months after the simulation training session. Once each instrumental procedure had been completed, the students were also asked to score the level of confidence (specific self-confidence) they felt regarding the use of RP and MP. After each training session, the quality of the RCT was radiographically evaluated by two trained, independent investigators. RESULTS: Overall, student global self-confidence in undertaking an RCT increased significantly immediately after the practical session and remained stable for the ensuing eleven months. The students declared a clear preference for RP and were more self-confident in undertaking an RCT after RP than after MP. The proportion of RCTs considered of good quality was the same for the manual (31.5%) and rotary (30.3%) procedures. CONCLUSIONS: Simulation training is a good way to train dental students who are confident in undertaking RCTs. However, confidence is not directly related to competence. Teachers should be encouraged to develop a comprehensive simulation training program, including feedback, debriefing, and repetitions.

Umbrella reviews: A new tool to synthesize scientific evidence in surgery.

Researchers and practitioners are faced with an exponential increase in the number of systematic reviews (SRs) (with or without meta-analysis), a so-called `secondary' research method that synthesizes data from primary research. This growing number, sometimes with discordant results on the same subject or with non-conclusions, has led to the introduction of the concept of reviews to synthesize SR in order to combine scientific knowledge useful to practitioners. These so-called ``umbrella reviews'' (UR) constitute a new tertiary research tool. Surgical research is no exception to this development but umbrella surgical reviews remain relatively rare. Any UR must be transparent and meet rigorous methodological criteria. The UR could thus provide answers to practical questions in the field of surgery, but only on condition that the bias of the included SRs is limited. Let us not forget that the base requirement of clinical surgical research remains the good methodological quality of clinical studies (primary research). Only thus can SRs or URs (secondary or tertiary research) be more useful and decisive.

[Social inequalities in oral health and early childhood caries: How can they be effectively prevented? A scoping review of disease predictors]. / Inégalités sociales de santé orale et caries précoces de l'enfant : comment prévenir efficacement ? Une revue de portée des prédicteurs de la maladie.

BACKGROUND: Early childhood caries represent a major public health problem. In addition to their individual impact, the massive social inequalities in oral health that are at the roots and result from the disease have largely underestimated consequences for the child, his family and the community. In response to the question of "how and where to act?", this scoping review identifies the individual characteristics associated with the disease on which it would be possible to act, using appropriate prevention strategies. METHODS: This scoping review is aimed at describing and analyzing available data in the literature on the different factors associated with early childhood caries. RESULTS: The predictors of early childhood caries are represented by mediating (knowledge, attitudes and parents' oral health practices) and moderating (psychosocial parameters, parental health literacy and alcohol consumption) factors. Twenty-eight articles fulfilled the selection criteria, twenty of which studied mediators related to early childhood caries, and fourteen of which dealt with moderators. The lower the parents' level of knowledge and literacy in oral health, the higher a child's dmft index. Additional studies are needed to assess the role of psychosocial parameters. CONCLUSION: Parents' knowledge and oral health literacy are the key predictors to be preferentially targeted in view of reducing social inequalities in health through actions undertaken on a local scale. The prevention of early childhood caries necessitates a combination of generic and targeted interventions.