Methods: A convenience sample (n=465) of enrolled school children aged between 3 and 12 years old were invited to participate between February and April, 2013. The preschool and primary school are located in suburbs ranked in the lowest 10th percentile in Victoria, Australia, based on the Socio-Economic Index for Areas (SEIFA). Two dental examiners were calibrated using the two-digit modified International Caries Detection and Assessment System II (ICDAS); caries code 1 excluded. Data analysis evaluated children receiving: a school dental check-up (intervention) or a conventional dental check-up (control). The null hypothesis (H0=0.50) tested the return rate for children attending their referred follow-up dental appointment. The ICDAS codes were transformed using the Decayed, Missing and Filled Tooth Surfaces/Teeth (DMF-S/T) index (decay defined as ICDAS caries code>2).
Results: The intra-rater and inter-rater reliability achieved good agreement (Weighted-Kappa≥0.80). There was a child participation rate of 34%. Almost half (48%) of the children reported never having had a dental check-up. A moderate proportion of children (67%) have never used the local public dental service compared to the control group (31%). The intervention increased child dental access using public dental services (p<0.0001). A total of 84 children (56%) were referred for dental treatment; 62 children (74%) attended their follow-up dental appointment (p<0.0001; 95%CI, 0.64, 0.83). The mean dental caries prevalence for the deciduous and permanent teeth is dmf-s 3.4, dmf-t 1.9, and DMF-S 0.5, DMF-T 0.2, respectively.
Conclusion: The targeted school dental check-up program proved beneficial. A larger sample size is recommended to affirm the findings. Further research is required to improve child participation using positive consent methods.
This research was supported by Dental Health Services Victoria Research and Innovations Grant 2013.