title: A controlled, longitudinal study of home visits compared to telephone contacts to prevent early childhood caries.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Home visits (HV) provide excellent opportunities for health promotion.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This longitudinal study compared the effects of HV and telephone contacts (TC) in preventing early childhood caries (ECC) and colonisation of mutans streptococci (MS) and lactobacilli (LB) from 0 to 24 months.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 325 children were recruited from community health centres at mean age of 42 days, and randomly assigned to receive either HV or TC. A total of 188 children completed three, 6 monthly HV, and another 58 had three, 6 monthly TC. An additional 40 age-matched children from childcare facilities served as reference controls (RC). At 24 months, all groups were examined at a community dental clinic.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At 24 months, three HV children of 188 (1.5%) had caries, compared to four TC of 58 (6.8%) and nine RC of 40 (22.5%) (P < 0.001 for HV versus RC; P = 0.05 for HV versus TC and P = 0.03 for TC versus RC). There were also more children with MS in the TC (47%) and RC (35%) compared to HV (28%) group (P = 0.01 and P = 0.02).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Home visits and telephone contacts conducted 6 monthly from birth are effective in reducing ECC prevalence by 24 months.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Paediatric Dentistry, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
authors.forename: Kathryn A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Plonka
authors.forename: Margaret L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Pukallus
authors.forename: Adrian
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barnett
authors.forename: Trevor F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Holcombe
authors.forename: Laurence J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Walsh
authors.forename: W Kim
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Seow
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D058491:Bacterial Load; D001903:Bottle Feeding; D002327:Cariostatic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D005459:Fluorides / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015438:Health Behavior; D006267:Health Education, Dental; D006293:Health Promotion; D006792:House Calls; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007778:Lactobacillus / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009910:Oral Hygiene / Q000193:education; D013295:Streptococcus mutans / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013689:Telephone; D014070:Tooth / Q000382:microbiology; D014099:Toothbrushing / Q000379:methods; D014100:Toothpastes / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D002327:Cariostatic Agents; D014100:Toothpastes; D005459:Fluorides