Co㎜unity health activities for dental caries prevention in children.

Abstract

A widespread prevalence of dental caries in deciduous teeth has been noticed in children aged 1-2 years in Japan, recently. This trend has forced more difficult to reduce the dental caries in permanent dentition. Comprehensive activities for community dental health have been needed urgently for caries prevention at this time.

This preliminary study was collducted to demonstrate that implementation of team approach to caries prevention program by means of community organization in rural village(population: 6736)of Iwate prefecture. The team consists of dentists, dental hygienists, public health nurses and other members of the co㎜unity The annual programs comprise fluoride topical application(APF and 8% stannous fluoride solutions) for children, and plaque control and diet counselling for children and parents included. Epidemiological investigation was done on caries experience(deft and DMFT) of the subjects 236 children aged 1-4 years and 577 school children aged 6-11 years in 1975. Specific age analyses of caries experience showed that the values of deft index were 1.57 for aged 1-years, 3.54 for aged 2-years, 7.62 for aged 3-years, and 9.83 for aged 4-years children, respectively and those of DMFT index were 0.70-3.90 through aged 6-11 years school children. The aim of this investigation is focussed on the longitudinal evaluation on the effect of the caries preventive means in this community to assess the shift of pattern of the caries prevalence in future studies.