Caries incidence in school programs with different implementation modalities

OBJECTIVE: Compare the effectiveness of two school programs of dental care in school with similar attention protocols and different implementation modalities. METHODS: field trial with longitudinal of 2 cohorts follow-up to 3 year. Population:6 to 9 years of age schoolchildren concurrent to public schools of the Tigre municipality continental and island areas .Design: basal evaluation(t0)with registration of dental status according to ICDAS II criteria(lesion L), by 3 researchers. The schoolchildren(n=76) received a combination of preventive measures according to a clinical care protocol according to biological risk. The management modality differed in the density/concentration of activities for its implementation: actions in continent schools were implemented weekly throughout the school year (PE n=31); the actions and islands school were concentrated in a week in the year (PI n=45). Post-1,2 and 3year evaluations were performed(t1, t2,t3). Were calculated for the total sample, PI and PE: incidence of caries (IC=surfacesL≥1active t1,t2,t3/ surfacesL=0t0x100)and progression of incipient lesions(PL=surfacesL≥3t1,t2,t3/surfaces L1-2t0x100). Frequencies and percentages of the variables studied were obtained. The comparison between groups, chi-squared tests and comparison of proportions. Frequencies and percentages of the variables studied were obtained; for the comparison between groups, chi-squared tests and comparison of proportions for independent samples with Bonferroni post hoc adjustment. RESULTS: Basal examination: surfaces L=0:PI=57.4%/PE=61.1%;surfacesL≥1:PI= 9.5%/PE=9.5%;surfacesL≥3:PI=7.3%/PE=8.2%;surfacesL≥5:PI=5.7%/PE=5.7%,there were no statistically significant differences between groups. In terms of incidence, it was recorded: CI(PI)t1-t0=4.9%/CI(PE)t1-t0=1.8%(p<0.001);CI(PI)t2-t1=7%/CI(PE)t2t1=2.4%(p<0.001);CI(PI) t3-t2=1.9%/CI(PE)t3-t2=0.6%(p<0.001).The progression of lesions PL(PI)t1-t0=10.1%/ PL(PE)t1-t0=1.6%(p=0.003)was observed:PL(PI)t2-t1=8.1%/PL(PE)t2-t1=2.5%(p=0.0015);PL(PI)t3t2=3%/ PL(PE)t3-t2=0%(p=0.0013).CONCLUSIONS: In the scenarios studied, school programs with different implementation modalities showed dissimilar effectiveness in terms of incidence and progression of caries lesions.