Polish public caries prophylaxis programme for children aged 5, 7 and 15 years, implemented in the year 2011

Continuous monitoring of oral health status improves the quality of dental health care and the effectiveness of implemented prevention programs.

The aim of the study was to assess the caries status in three age groups of Polish children and evaluation of the effectiveness of the nationwide caries prophylaxis program, including fissure sealing of deciduous and permanent teeth.

a group of 6,271 chidren, 5, 7 and 15 years old, coming from 16 provinces of Poland, was included in the epidemiological survey. The study was based on WHO guidelines (Oral Health Surveys).

the percentage of children covered by the prophylaxis program in 2011 was as follows: 5 years old--3.8%, 7 years old--48.3%, 15 years old--7.2%. Five-year-old children took part in prophylaxis program in 4 provinces, seven-year-old children--in 10 provinces, and 15-year-old children--in 3 provinces. The percentage of five-year-old children with sealed primary and permanent teeth was 0.4% and 0.6%, respectively. In the group of seven-year-old children it was 1.7% and 16.4% respectively, whereas in the group of 15-year-old children, the percentage of sealed permanent teeth was 7.2%. The obtained results varied in different provinces of Poland.

Caries prophylaxis program developed for Polish children was implemented insufficiently, with significant differences depending on sex, age group and regional conditions. The total percentage of children with sealed primary and permanent dentition was very low on national scale, regardless of age and place of residence.