Testing a program to prevent early childhood caries: clinical outcomes

Objectives: To test the effectiveness of an educational program in the prevention of early childhood caries in Quebec, Canada. Methods: A community-based, multi-centre, single-blinded, randomised controlled trial design was used. A sample of 821 parent/child dyads was recruited, when the infants were approximately 6 months old. The dyads were randomised to receive the test intervention or normal care (no service). The former was an educational program in which community health centre-based dental hygienists delivered caries-prevention material to the dyads on a one-on-one basis on four occasions, at 6 month intervals. Baseline sociodemographic, socioeconomic, and caries-related knowledge and behaviour data were collected from parents at the time of recruitment. The same data, plus clinical measures of caries experience (d1mfs) in the children, were collected when they were approximately 30 months old, i.e. 24 months following recruitment. The d1mfs was evaluated by three trained, calibrated dental hygienists, who were blinded to the study goals and the dyads' randomisation allocation. Sociodemographic and socioeconomic variables were compared between test and control groups at outcomes evaluation using a chi square test. Mean d1mfs scores at outcome evaluation and their 95% confidence intervals were generated for test and control groups. Results: Baseline characteristics were similar for test and control groups. Of the 821 dyads recruited, 749 (91.2%) were seen for outcomes evaluation. There were no important differences in sociodemographic and socioeconomic characteristics between those completing the study and those dropping out. The mean d1mfs for the test group children was 0.67 (95%CI: 0.33-1.02) and for the control group was 0.67 (95%CI: 0.38-0.97). Conclusion: The test intervention appears to have no effect on caries experience in 30 month old children. Funding by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.