Chairtime needed for an incremental dental care program for schoolchildren in Israel

Chairtime needed to provide initial treatment to 80 children, 6 1/2 to 7 1/2 years of age, in an incremental care program was recorded. An average of 8.2 carious teeth with 14.0 carous surfaces required treatment. The clinical and radiographic examinations were concluded earlier and were not included in the chairtime recorded. One year after completion of the initial treatment, 51 of these children were reexamined to determine the maintenance treatment needs. These were found to be approximately one-third of the initial treatment needs. The average chairtime required for initial treatment was 2 hours and 37 min. It was estimated that for complete treatment, including examination and preventive measures, 3 hours per child would be required for initial treatment and 1 hour for maintenance care each following year.