Baseline Social-Demographic and Caries-Related Characteristics in a Schoolchildren Multicenter RCT comparing ICCMS™ vs. Colombian-Adjusted Health-System Caries Managements

Objectives: To describe baseline social-demographic and caries-related characteristics in a schoolchildren caries-management multicenter RCT and compare social-demographic and caries-related baseline data between groups.
Methods: With IRB and parents’ informed consents, 240 7-yr. olds in 6 Colombian-dental schools’ clinics were asked for gender, social-economical status (SES) and National-Health-System affiliation type. They were examined for: -conventional caries experience where d/D corresponds to ICCMS™ moderate/extensive caries lesions (d_Convmf/D_ConvMF-S); -modern caries experience where d/D corresponds to ICCMS™ initial/moderate/extensive caries lesions (d_ICCMSf/D_ICCMSMF-S), and -ICCMS™ caries-risk likelihood (low/moderate/high).
Results: Sample corresponded to 112 girls, 128 boys (Group-A: 58 and 62; Group-B: 54 and 66, respectively) (c²; p=0.60). SES-sample distribution was: SES-5: 1.25%, SES-4: 4.17%, SES-3: 23.75%, SES-2: 46.25%, SES-1: 24.58%, without significant differences between groups (c²; p=0.90). National-Health-System affiliation-type sample distribution was: Contributing: Subsidiary: 34.58%, 63.33%, Special: 2.08%, without significant differences between groups (c²; p=0.21).
The prevalence of conventional caries experience (d_Convmf/D_ConvMF-S) was 77.50% (Group-A: 78.30%; Group-B: 76.67%) (c²; p=0.69) and the mean 6.51±7.98 (Group-A: 6.70±8.49; Group-B: 6.31±7.47) (Mann-Whitney test; p=0.92), increasing respectively for d_ICCMSf/D_ICCMSMF-S to 94.6% (Group-A: -94.17%; Group-B: 95%) (c²; p=0.7) and 16.91±13.17 (Group-A: 16.90±13.93; Group-B: 16.91±12.43) (Mann-Whitney test; p=0.69). The percentage distribution of caries-risk likelihood was: high (58.75%); moderate (33.3%); low (7.92%) (Group-A: 62.50%, 29.17%, 8.33%: Group-B: 55.00%, 37.50%, 7.50%, respectively) (c²; p=0.39).
Conclusions: Children show a high caries/caries risk burden, with higher than ENSAB-IV (5- and 12-yr. olds) conventional caries experience prevalence and mean. Groups are similar in terms of social-demographic and caries-related characteristics.