Children's dental healthcare quality using several outcome measures.
The aim of this study was to measure the quality of children's dental healthcare from the oral health records of 10-year-olds and from the numbers of children in risk groups. The focus was on dental healthcare and markers of dental records. A representative sample of women expecting their first child was selected in southwestern Finland. Children's dental health, dmft/DMFT = 0, was recorded in 45% of cases with a mean DMFT index of 0.5, and dmft/DMFT > or = 5 in 15%) of the children. Late-appearing caries (caries-free at the age of 5 years but caries-existing thereafter) was present in 31% (258/828) of the children. The focus on restorative dental healthcare was appropriate. The use of sweets was documented in 23% of cases and tooth-brushing in 28%. A total of 26% of the children had gingivitis in every segment. The study illustrates that only one of the targets has bees fully reached.
Mattila
Marja-Leena
ML
Public Health Center, Turku, Finland. malema@utu.fi
Rautava
Päivi
P
Paunio
Päivi
P
Ojanlatva
Ansa
A
Hyssälä
Liisa
L
Helenius
Hans
H
Sillanpää
Matti
M
D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D004245:DMF Index; D019140:Dental Care for Children / Q000592:standards*; D003792:Dental Records; D003793:Dental Restoration, Permanent; D019422:Dietary Sucrose / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005891:Gingivitis / Q000145:classification; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010512:Periodontal Index; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D014099:Toothbrushing
D019422:Dietary Sucrose