[Mice teeth campaign: Group prophylaxis for 0-3 year olds - a model project]

Due to effective prevention strategies with regard to oral health in Germany, a huge reduction in the prevalence of dental caries in children and adolescents has been registered in children and adolescents. However, this improvement is considerably lower in deciduous teeth compared to permanent teeth. This shows that there is still a need for action. A study organized by the DAJ (Deutsche Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Jugendzahnpflege) for the school year 2015/2016 came to the conclusion that almost 14% of the 3-year-old children in kindergartens were already affected by tooth decay. Therefore, an earlier start with prophylactic prevention measures is the order of the day. Accordingly, the DAJ extended in 2016 its original recommendations of 2012 and included group prophylaxis measures for children under the age of 3 years. Also in 2019, early oral examinations in dental offices and oral health education for parents were included in the list of services of the German social health insurance. The legislator also justified these extras with the fact that in this age group, a relevant number of children do not receive any group prophylaxis measures. The prophylactic prevention program "Mice Teeth Campaign" helps to close this gap. The program not only promotes group prophylaxis for children under 3 years of age but also effectively supports the group prophylaxis programs for children over the age of 3 that are already being carried out in kindergartens, like the "Kita mit Biss" program. Similar to an open-source software, the prevention program represents a basis that can be individually adapted, changed, and/or expanded accordingly to local conditions. The structure of the basic and elective modules promotes acceptance by kindergartens, allowing for an easier access to a faster consent for the prevention program. Although the primary goal of the prevention program was to contribute in the reduction of early childhood caries, it was important for the project team to develop a program that could be easily transferred to other oral health working groups in Germany. It would be ideal if the participating working groups shared their additionally developed materials, ideas, experiences, and suggestions in a common pool so that all this information would be available to all participants. Technically, this is already possible thanks to the project's website.