Dental assistants' ability to select caries risk-children and to prevent caries

A new model for dental care in children has been used since 1987 in a small-town clinic in the county of Blekinge in southern Sweden. The model is based on early screening of caries risk, performed by dental assistants. The purpose is to obtain an individual assessment of the need of preventive dental care among pre-school children, in order to prevent dental caries and gingivitis. The aim was to 1) evaluate the dental assistants' selection of caries risk children up to the age of three by comparing dental health variables in 4 yr olds in the test clinic with those for the whole county and 2) compare the time spent by the dentists and the dental assistants in the test clinic and in the whole county per child up to the age of four. 102 children participated. Specially trained dental assistants screened children likely to develop caries lesions using background factors combined with clinical examinations at ages 1, 2 and 3. A systematized form for questioning the parents was used. Individual caries prevention was given. Dental health and time spent were analyzed. The proportion of children with caries lesions at four years and a caries risk assessment up to the age of three was 11/19 = 0.58 (sensitivity). The proportion of children with no caries lesions at four years and no caries risk assessment up to the age of three was 82/83 = 0.99 (specificity). The proportion of children with no caries lesions at 4 yr of age in the test clinic was 81.4% compared to a county mean of 77.2%.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)