King Fahad Armed Forces Hospital, PO Box 54146, Jeddah 21514, Saudi Arabia.
BMC Public Health. 2012 Aug 29;12:706. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-12-706.
There are no randomized controlled trials to assess the impact of treating dental caries on various aspects of children's health. This study was conducted to assess the impact of dental treatment of severe dental caries on children's weight, height and subjective health related outcomes, namely dental pain, satisfaction with teeth and smile, dental sepsis and child's appetite.
The study was a community-based, randomized, controlled trial in schoolchildren aged 6-7 years with untreated dental caries. Participants were randomly assigned to early (test) or regular (control) dental treatment. The primary outcome was Weight-for-age Z-score. Secondary outcomes were Height-for-age and BMI-for-age Z-scores, dental pain, dental sepsis, satisfaction with teeth and child's appetite.
86 children were randomly assigned to test (42 children) and control (44) groups. Mean duration of follow-up was 34.8 (± 1.1) weeks. There were insignificant improvements in anthropometric outcomes between the groups after treatment of caries. However, treated children had significantly less pain experience (P = 0.006) (OR 0.09, [0.01-0.51]) and higher satisfaction with teeth (P = 0.001) (OR 9.91, [2.68-36.51]) compared to controls. Controls had significantly poorer appetites (P = 0.01) (OR 2.9, [1.24-6.82]) compared to treated children. All treated children were free of clinical dental sepsis whereas 20% (9 of 44) of controls who were free of sepsis at baseline had sepsis at follow-up.
Although dental treatment did not significantly improve the anthropometric outcomes, it significantly improved the dental outcomes and children's satisfaction with teeth, smile and appetite. This is the first study to provide evidence that treatment of severe dental caries can improve children's appetite.
Effect of Dental Treatment on Children's Growth. Clinical Trial Gov ID# NCT01243866.
目前尚无随机对照试验评估治疗龋齿对儿童健康各方面的影响。本研究旨在评估治疗严重龋齿对儿童体重、身高和主观健康相关结果（即牙痛、对牙齿和笑容的满意度、牙部感染和儿童食欲）的影响。
这是一项基于社区的、随机、对照试验，研究对象为未经治疗的龋齿、年龄在 6-7 岁的在校儿童。参与者被随机分配到早期（试验）或常规（对照）牙科治疗组。主要结局指标为体重年龄 Z 评分。次要结局指标包括身高年龄 Z 评分、BMI 年龄 Z 评分、牙痛、牙部感染、对牙齿的满意度和儿童食欲。
86 名儿童被随机分配到试验（42 名儿童）和对照组（44 名）。平均随访时间为 34.8（±1.1）周。在龋齿治疗后，两组的人体测量结果均无显著改善。然而，与对照组相比，接受治疗的儿童疼痛体验明显减少（P = 0.006）（OR 0.09，[0.01-0.51]），对牙齿的满意度更高（P = 0.001）（OR 9.91，[2.68-36.51]）。与接受治疗的儿童相比，对照组的食欲明显较差（P = 0.01）（OR 2.9，[1.24-6.82]）。所有接受治疗的儿童均无临床牙部感染，而基线时无牙部感染的对照组中有 20%（9/44）在随访时发生了牙部感染。
尽管牙科治疗并未显著改善人体测量结果，但显著改善了牙科结果和儿童对牙齿、笑容和食欲的满意度。这是第一项表明治疗严重龋齿可以改善儿童食欲的研究。
牙科治疗对儿童生长的影响。临床试验注册号 NCT01243866。
