Universidade de São Paulo - USP, School of Dentistry, Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
University of Bern, Department of Restorative, Preventive and Pediatric Dentistry, Bern, Switzerland.
Braz Oral Res. 2020 Dec 18;35:e014. doi: 10.1590/1807-3107bor-2021.vol35.0014. eCollection 2020.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of different follow-up consultation intervals on caries incidence in children with low caries risk. The study was composed of 224 children aged between 3 and 5 years and with low risk of caries. The children were randomly allocated into two groups, according to two different follow-up consultation intervals: Group 1 (G1) - 12-month follow-up interval; Group 2 (G2) - 18-month follow-up interval. All oral clinical examinations were performed by a single examiner who was previously calibrated and blinded in relation to the study groups. An external dentist provided the advice on oral hygiene and diet and evaluated the children's socioeconomic conditions. The Chi-square and Mann-Whitney tests were used to evaluate the differences between groups. Poisson regression analyses were performed to assess the association of caries incidence with the other variables. At the end of the study there was a significant difference between the groups regarding initial active lesions (p = 0.012), and children in G2 were at a higher risk of developing initial active lesions than those in G1 (p = 0.047). Children who had a higher number of teeth with initial active lesions in the follow-up consultations were at a higher risk of developing cavitated dentin caries (p = 0.001). Both follow-up intervals are justifiable. Although significant results have been observed for initial active caries lesions within the 18-month follow-up interval, it should be noted that these lesions can be treated using just preventive measures. Besides, different return interval had no effect in cavitated dentin lesions.
本研究旨在评估不同随访间隔对低龋风险儿童患龋率的影响。研究纳入 224 名年龄在 3 至 5 岁之间、患龋风险低的儿童。根据两种不同的随访间隔，将儿童随机分为两组：G1 组（12 个月随访间隔）和 G2 组（18 个月随访间隔）。所有口腔临床检查均由一名经过校准和对研究组盲法的单一检查者进行。一名外部牙医提供口腔卫生和饮食建议，并评估儿童的社会经济状况。采用卡方检验和曼-惠特尼检验比较组间差异。采用泊松回归分析评估患龋率与其他变量的相关性。研究结束时，两组儿童在初始活跃龋损方面存在显著差异（p = 0.012），G2 组儿童发生初始活跃龋损的风险高于 G1 组（p = 0.047）。在随访中，初始活跃龋损的牙齿数量越多，发展为窝沟龋的风险越高（p = 0.001）。两种随访间隔均具有合理性。尽管在 18 个月的随访间隔内观察到初始活跃龋病的显著结果，但应注意这些病变可以仅通过预防措施进行治疗。此外，不同的复诊间隔对窝沟龋的发生无影响。
