Van den Branden Sigrid, Van den Broucke Stephan, Leroy Roos, Declerck Dominique, Bogaerts Kris, Hoppenbrouwers Karel
1 Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Centre for Youth Health Care, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
2 Psychological Sciences Research Institute, Université Catholique de Louvain, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
Eur J Public Health. 2014 Dec;24(6):893-8. doi: 10.1093/eurpub/ckt204. Epub 2013 Dec 23.
This study evaluates the effectiveness of a multi-component oral health intervention in preschool children in a non-randomized intervention study with a complementary baseline control.
Participants in the main study were 2137 children born between October 2003 and July 2004 in Flanders, Belgium. In the intervention group (50.5% of participants), an oral health education program was added to a standard preventive care program during the first 3 years of life. Oral health examinations were performed by trained dentists when the children were 3 (2007) and 5 (2009) years old. Data on dietary habits, oral hygiene habits and dental attendance were obtained through structured questionnaires. Regression analyses were applied to compare the results of the intervention and control group with baseline measurements obtained before the intervention (2003) in other cohorts of 3- (N = 1291) and 5-year-olds (N = 1325) living in the same regions.
The prevalence of caries experience was generally lower in the main study compared with the baseline cohorts, with little differences between the intervention and control group. For the oral health-related behaviours, the control group scored mostly better. Nevertheless, compared with baseline, limited differences were observed in dental attendance, tooth brushing, helping with tooth brushing and consuming in-between drinks (P < 0.05).
The study illustrates that a multi-component, theory-based intervention at community level had only a limited and temporary effect on oral health-related behaviours in the community under study. Further research is needed to determine how oral health in young children can be improved in the long term.
在一项具有补充基线对照的非随机干预研究中，评估多成分口腔健康干预措施对学龄前儿童的有效性。
主要研究的参与者为2137名于2003年10月至2004年7月在比利时弗拉芒出生的儿童。在干预组（占参与者的50.5%）中，在儿童生命的前3年，在标准预防保健项目的基础上增加了口腔健康教育项目。当儿童3岁（2007年）和5岁（2009年）时，由经过培训的牙医进行口腔健康检查。通过结构化问卷获取饮食习惯、口腔卫生习惯和看牙就诊情况的数据。应用回归分析，将干预组和对照组的结果与在同一地区生活的其他3岁（N = 1291）和5岁儿童队列（N = 1325）在干预前（2003年）获得的基线测量结果进行比较。
与基线队列相比，主要研究中龋齿经历的患病率总体较低，干预组和对照组之间差异不大。对于与口腔健康相关的行为，对照组得分大多更好。然而，与基线相比，在看牙就诊、刷牙、协助刷牙和饮用餐间饮料方面观察到的差异有限（P < 0.05）。
该研究表明，在社区层面基于理论的多成分干预措施对所研究社区中与口腔健康相关的行为仅产生了有限且短暂的影响。需要进一步研究以确定如何长期改善幼儿的口腔健康。
