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 dental care of pre-school children which includes an early caries risk assessment 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 children from the same clinic (historical control) was used as a comparison group. On the basis of the clinical examinations of the children and the interviews with the parents when the children were 3 years of age, the children in 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). Only 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 and molars by 6 years of age. At 6 years of age 81% in the intervention group were free of manifest carious lesions, compared with 55% in the comparison group (P < 0.001). Furthermore, the mean numbers of defs were 0.6 for children in the intervention group and 2.7 in the comparison group. Thus, this field study indicates that early primary prevention (before the onset of caries attack) and a structured and systematic approach to dental care for pre-school children result in good oral health for the children and may be economically profitable for a society with organized public dental service for pre-school children.