Do school-based dental sealant programs reach higher risk children?
OBJECTIVE
This report compares sealant prevalence by caries risk status among third graders at Ohio schools with and without school-based dental sealant programs (S-BSPs), and estimates the percent of children receiving sealants in S-BSPs who are higher risk for dental caries.


METHODS
We analyzed data from a statewide open-mouth oral health survey of Ohio third grade schoolchildren for sealant prevalence by S-BSP availability and caries risk classification. Children were classified as higher or lower risk for dental caries based on school lunch program enrollment and other non-clinical access-related indicators. Differences between groups were evaluated by the chi-square test (P < 0.05).


RESULTS
At schools with no S-BSPs, higher risk children were less likely to have dental sealants than lower risk children (28.7 percent versus 42.7 percent, P < 0.001). At schools with S-BSPs, sealant prevalence for both risk categories was equivalent for higher and lower risk children (59.4 percent, 63.4 percent, P = 0.428). Higher risk children at schools with S-BSPs were more than twice as likely to have a sealant as higher risk children at non-S-BSP schools (59.4 percent versus 28.7 percent, P < 0.001). Of higher risk children with at least one sealant, 61 percent attended a school with an S-BSP compared with 12.3 percent of lower risk children with at least one sealant. Higher risk children accounted for at least 75 percent of children receiving sealants through S-BSPs.


CONCLUSIONS
In Ohio, targeting S-BSPs by family income-based school-level criteria was effective in reaching higher risk children.
Bureau of Oral Health Services, Ohio Department of Health, Columbus, OH 43215, USA. mark.siegal@odh.ohio.gov
Mark D
MD
Siegal
Amber M Richardson
AM
Detty
D002648:Child; D004245:DMF Index; D003729:Dental Care; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000145:classification / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003733:Dental Caries Susceptibility; D005522:Food Services; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D008484:Medicaid; D017057:Medically Uninsured; D009820:Ohio; D010895:Pit and Fissure Sealants / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012424:Rural Population; D012571:School Dentistry; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D014505:Urban Population
D010895:Pit and Fissure Sealants