Changes in dental health and dental health habits from 3 to 5 years of age.
OBJECTIVE
This study sought to determine how dental health and dental health habits change from 3 to 5 years of age and to consider whether preventive dental health care helped in preventing or halting caries in children.


METHODS
The study included 67 maternity health care clinics, 72 well-baby clinics, and 69 dental health care clinics. Of the 1,292 newborn children, 1,003 (90.8%) were included in this study.


RESULTS
Preventive dental health care contributed to dental caries being halted in only 13.2 percent of those children who had enamel caries at 3 years of age. The dmft index did not increase in 22.6 percent of those children who had dentinal caries at 3 years of age. For all others, the disease became more severe. Toothbrushing habits of 3-year-old children were very consistent over the two years studied. Children were at a risk for caries when their mothers had nine years of basic education, when they already had plaque and caries at 3 years of age, and when the frequency of eating sweets increased the most during the two-year study period.


CONCLUSIONS
Among 3-year-old children, plaque is an indicator of caries risk and therefore should be a key element in health education. Those children who already have evidence of caries at 3 years of age should be the target of preventive dental services because of their increased risk.
Mattila
M L
ML
Department of Public Health, University of Turku, Finland.
Paunio
P
P
Rautava
P
P
Ojanlatva
A
A
Sillanpää
M
M
D002675:Child, Preschool; D004245:DMF Index; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control; D003733:Dental Caries Susceptibility; D003743:Dental Enamel / Q000473:pathology; D003774:Dental Plaque Index; D003804:Dentin / Q000473:pathology; D019422:Dietary Sucrose / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004522:Educational Status; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006267:Health Education, Dental; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000193:education; D009909:Oral Health; D009910:Oral Hygiene; D012307:Risk Factors; D014099:Toothbrushing
D019422:Dietary Sucrose