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Changes in Dental Health and Dental Health Habits from 3 to 5 Years of Age
Author(s) -
Mattila MarjaLeena,
Paunio Päivi,
Rautava Päivi,
Ojanlatva Ansa,
Sillanpää Matti
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of public health dentistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.64
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1752-7325
pISSN - 0022-4006
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-7325.1998.tb03008.x
Subject(s) - dental health , medicine , dentistry , oral health , gerontology
Objectives : This study sought to determine how dental health and dental health habits change from 3 to 5 years of age and to consider whether preventive dental health care helped in preventing or halting caries in children. Methods : The study included 67 maternity health care clinics, 72 well‐baby clinics, and 69 dental health care clinics. Of the 1,292 newborn children, 1,003 (90.8%) were included in this study. Results : Preventive dental health care contributed to dental caries being halted in only 13.2 percent of those children who had enamel caries at 3 years of age. The dmft index did not increase in 22.6 percent of those children who had dentinal caries at 3 years of age. For all others, the disease became more severe. Toothbrushing habits of 3‐year‐old children were very consistent over the two years studied. Children were at a risk for caries when their mothers had nine years of basic education, when they already had plaque and caries at 3 years of age, and when the frequency of eating sweets increased the most during the two‐year study period. Conclusion : Among 3‐year‐old children, plaque is an indicator of caries risk and therefore should be a key element in health education. Those children who already have evidence of caries at 3 years of age should be the target of preventive dental services because of their increased risk.