title: Screening for caries in targeted schools in the Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury districts, New South Wales, Australia: an evaluation of the School Assessment Program.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine if the school dental screening program in New South Wales, the School Assessment Program, achieved its aim of being the key entry point for high-risk children to receive care.
  
  
  METHODS
  A secondary analysis was conducted on epidemiological data gathered in 16 primary schools in New South Wales (10 for the School Assessment Program and six for the non-School Assessment Program) in 2003. The validity of the School Assessment Program targeting criteria in identifying high-risk schools was determined. Post-screening treatment outcomes were evaluated from the assessment of treatment ratios.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were negligible differences in the caries experience and proportions of high-risk children, irrespective of their School Assessment Program status. Sensitivity and specificity values were approximately 60% and 40%, respectively, using various case definitions of high risk applied to both children and schools. Deciduous dentition treatment ratios for School Assessment Program and non-School Assessment Program children with decayed, missing, and filled teeth (dmft) ≥1 ranged from 0.48 to 0.79 and from 0.47 to 0.73, respectively. Respective permanent dentition treatment ratios for School Assessment Program and non-School Assessment Program children with Decayed, Missing, and Filled Teeth (DMFT) ≥1 were 0.49-0.82 and 0.64-1.08.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The School Assessment Program failed to identify schools with high caries-risk children or confer post-screening caries treatment benefits.
authors.affiliation: Department of Population Oral Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Gabriel Tse Feng
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Chong
authors.forename: Robin Wendell
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: Peter John
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Dennison
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004245:DMF Index; D019140:Dental Care for Children / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003733:Dental Caries Susceptibility; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D020380:Needs Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009517:New South Wales / Q000453:epidemiology; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015397:Program Evaluation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012571:School Dentistry / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014094:Tooth, Deciduous / Q000473:pathology; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: School Assessment Program; post-screening treatment outcome; school dental screening; screening validity; treatment ratio