Dental care of six-year-old high-caries patients in relation to their cooperation.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate caries occurrence in, and dental care given to, 6-year-old high-caries patients in relation to their cooperation as judged by the dentist.


METHODS
Retrospective evaluation study.


METHODS
Children selected on the basis of their high number of decayed teeth (dt + DT). Data from personal oral health records.


METHODS
High-caries children aged 6 years (n = 97) clinically examined and treated in public dental clinics in Helsinki, Finland, with mean dt + DT = 8.7, range 4-18.


METHODS
Data covering ages 3 to 7 years: utilization of dental services, operative and preventive treatment by visit.


RESULTS
Treatment strategy for the 6-year-old high-caries patients was not preventive-oriented. High-caries patients had three to four times as many visits as all 6-year-old children on average, but the visits had mostly served for operative treatment. Dentists had judged 34% of the high-caries patients to be non-cooperative. These patients had more past and present caries in their deciduous teeth (P < 0.01), more dental visits (P < 0.01), and received more demanding treatment (P < 0.001) than the cooperative high-caries patients. Caries preventive treatment given to all high-caries patients was rare, number of preventive interventions per patient and per visit (intensity) tended to correlate negatively with patients' cooperation (r = -0.12 and r = -0.23). Treatment courses were completed in 39% among the non-cooperative and in 63 per cent among the cooperative high-caries patients (P < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Dentists should be encouraged to integrate preventive interventions more closely into the treatment of non-cooperative high-caries children.
Varsio
S
S
Department of Oral Public Health, University of Helsinki, Finland.
Vehkalahti
M
M
Murtomaa
H
H
D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004245:DMF Index; D019140:Dental Care for Children / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data