Integration of Primary Dental Prevention into Well-baby Program: Marshall Islands

Methods: A dental preventive assistant saw each child and mother in the pilot study group at the well-baby clinic on scheduled immunization days. The mothers received dental health education and topical PVP-Iodine (1% iodine, Allegiance, Cardinal Health, USA) and fluoride varnish (5% sodium fluoride, Varnish America, USA) were applied sequentially to the children's teeth at the same visit at 6, 9, and 12 months of age. Participants were provided toothbrushes and fluoridated toothpaste (My First Colgate, Australia, .304% sodium monofluorophosphate for the children) with instructions to begin brushing the children's teeth as soon as they erupted. Children in both the pilot study group and the comparison were recalled at 15 months of age and examined by a single examiner with a mouth mirror and ambient light using WHO criteria.

Results: All 108 children in the pilot study group were treated at least twice (average number of visits including education visits = 3.2, range = 2 to 5) and were 100% caries free. 113 of 138 children (82%) in the group that did not receive preventive services were caries free. The average number of decayed teeth for this untreated comparison group was 0.86 (range = 0 to 10).

Conclusion: We conclude that this pilot project was able to provide anticipatory guidance and deliver preventive services to very young children at a well-baby clinic, resulting in a reduction of Early Childhood Caries.