Early dental caries risk assessment and prevention in pre-school children:evaluation of a new strategy for dental care in a field study

The aim of the present field study was to evaluate a new strategy for the d ental care of pre-school children which includes an early caries risk asses sment and early preventive care. One hundred and sixty-seven children were studied from 1 to 6 years of age (intervention group). A group of 125 child ren from the same clinic (historical control) was used as a comparison grou p. On the basis of the clinical examinations of the children and the interv iews with the parents when the children were 3 years of age, the children i n the intervention group were divided into four different risk groups: no ( n = 95), low (n = 33), moderate (n = 30), and high caries risk (n = 9). Onl y 8 of the 95 children who had been placed in the no caries risk group at 3 years of age developed manifest carious lesions in their primary cuspids a nd molars by 6 years of age. At 6 years of age 81% in the intervention grou p were free of manifest carious lesions, compared with 55% in the compariso n group (P < 0.001). Furthermore, the mean numbers of defs were 0.6 for chi ldren in the intervention group and 2.7 in the comparison group. Thus, this field study indicates that early primary prevention (before the onset of c aries attack) and a structured and systematic approach to dental care for p re-school children result in good oral health for the children and may be e conomically profitable for a society with organized public dental service f or pre-school children.