Natapov Lena, Dekel-Markovich Dan, Granit-Palmon Hadas, Aflalo Efrat, Zusman Shlomo Paul
Dental Services Department, Division of Dental Health, Ministry of Health, Jerusalem, Israel.
South Regional Health Office, Ministry of Health, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
Public Health Nurs. 2018 Jan;35(1):64-69. doi: 10.1111/phn.12367. Epub 2017 Nov 7.
Dental caries is the most prevalent chronic disease in children. Caries risk assessment tools enable the dentists, physicians, and nondental health care providers to assess the individual's risk. Intervention by nurses in primary care settings can contribute to the establishment of oral health habits and prevention of dental disease. In Israel, Mother and Child Health Centers provide free preventive services for pregnant women and children by public health nurses.
A caries prevention program in health centers started in 2015. Nurses underwent special training regarding caries prevention. A customized Caries Risk Assessment tool and Prevention Protocol for nurses, based on the AAPD tool, was introduced. A two-step evaluation was conducted which included a questionnaire and in-depth phone interviews.
Twenty-eight (out of 46) health centers returned a completed questionnaire. Most nurses believed that oral health preventive services should be incorporated into their daily work. In the in-depth phone interviews, nurses stated that the integration of the program into their busy daily schedule was realistic and appropriate. The lack of specific dental module for computer program was mentioned as an implementation difficulty.
The wide use of our tool by nurses supports its simplicity and feasibility which enables quick calculation and informed decision making. The nurses readily embraced the tool and it became an integral part of their toolkit.
We provide public health nurses with a caries risk assessment tool and prevention protocol thus integrating oral health into general health of infants and toddlers.
龋齿是儿童中最普遍的慢性疾病。龋齿风险评估工具使牙医、医生和非牙科医疗服务提供者能够评估个体的风险。初级保健机构中的护士进行干预有助于建立口腔健康习惯和预防牙科疾病。在以色列，母婴健康中心由公共卫生护士为孕妇和儿童提供免费的预防服务。
2015年在健康中心启动了一项龋齿预防项目护士接受了关于龋齿预防的专项培训。引入了一种基于美国儿科学会（AAPD）工具为护士定制的龋齿风险评估工具和预防方案。进行了两步评估，包括问卷调查和深入电话访谈。
46家健康中心中有28家返回了完整的问卷。大多数护士认为口腔健康预防服务应纳入他们的日常工作。在深入电话访谈中，护士们表示将该项目纳入他们繁忙的日常工作安排是现实且合适的。提到计算机程序缺乏特定的牙科模块是一个实施难点。
护士对我们工具的广泛使用支持了其简单性和可行性，这使得能够快速计算并做出明智的决策。护士们欣然接受了该工具，它成为了他们工具包中不可或缺的一部分。
我们为公共卫生护士提供了一种龋齿风险评估工具和预防方案，从而将口腔健康纳入婴幼儿的整体健康之中。
