IADR Abstract Archives
Cambodia Smile – a pilot study to prevent Early Childhood Caries (ECC)
Objectives: The objective of this presentation is to (a) describe a pilot intervention that aims to prevent ECC in a cohort of children in rural Cambodia and (b) report the baseline results of the first group of children recruited to the study.
Methods: This is a longitudinal study that will follow a birth cohort of around 250 mother-child dyads over the first two years of life. Participants will receive oral health information, tooth brushes with fluoride tooth paste, fluoride varnish (for the children), and diet advice from local midwives. These activities will be integrated with the existing vaccination, de-worming, and vitamin A schedule. The intervention group will be compared with a control group who will be recruited when the children are 2-years of age.
Results: 100 Mother-child dyads were recruited from Kampong Speu province between 16 January and 26 February 2015 with an even gender distribution (47.2% Male, 52.8% Female). Two fifths of the mothers reported that they were ‘sometimes’ bothered by their teeth; only 64% of mothers reported that they had brushed their teeth the previous day, and of those, all of them used toothpaste. Most of the mothers (82%) intended to breast feed exclusively with the reminder planning to use a combination of breast- and bottle-feeding. Most of the children came from very poor households; only 44.9% of the mothers had any education past primary school, and the combined household income was less than $150 for two thirds of respondents.
Conclusions: The children in this study were from low socioeconomic backgrounds and the oral hygiene habits, and self reported oral health were consistent with the findings of the National Oral Health Survey from 2011. It is hoped that an integrated approach of delivering oral health information can reduce the burden of dental caries for these children in the long term.
Methods: This is a longitudinal study that will follow a birth cohort of around 250 mother-child dyads over the first two years of life. Participants will receive oral health information, tooth brushes with fluoride tooth paste, fluoride varnish (for the children), and diet advice from local midwives. These activities will be integrated with the existing vaccination, de-worming, and vitamin A schedule. The intervention group will be compared with a control group who will be recruited when the children are 2-years of age.
Results: 100 Mother-child dyads were recruited from Kampong Speu province between 16 January and 26 February 2015 with an even gender distribution (47.2% Male, 52.8% Female). Two fifths of the mothers reported that they were ‘sometimes’ bothered by their teeth; only 64% of mothers reported that they had brushed their teeth the previous day, and of those, all of them used toothpaste. Most of the mothers (82%) intended to breast feed exclusively with the reminder planning to use a combination of breast- and bottle-feeding. Most of the children came from very poor households; only 44.9% of the mothers had any education past primary school, and the combined household income was less than $150 for two thirds of respondents.
Conclusions: The children in this study were from low socioeconomic backgrounds and the oral hygiene habits, and self reported oral health were consistent with the findings of the National Oral Health Survey from 2011. It is hoped that an integrated approach of delivering oral health information can reduce the burden of dental caries for these children in the long term.