Search

The oral health of children and adolescents mirrors their general health. Because oral health care is often delivered in isolation from general health care, oral signs and symptoms do not always alert practitioners to their significance beyond the mouth. An important example of this is the association of a higher risk of dental caries and periodontal disease in children and adolescents with overweight, obesity and prediabetic conditions. Oral-health practitioners need to consider the health conditions that their patients may have. This will aid in diagnosis and alert the practitioner to oral conditions that may not resolve without general health-care intervention also. This paper reviews the more common oral conditions involving periodontal health in children and adolescents, and discusses the diagnosis of these conditions, potential associated health problems and the roles of pediatric dentistry and periodontology in the management of these conditions with the goal of children entering adulthood with healthy dentitions., (© 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background and Objectives: Prior to the introduction of the Southern District Health Board's reconfigured Community Oral Health Service in Otago, a project was undertaken with parents to investigate their knowledge, understanding and views of the historical School Dental Service and of the Community Oral Health Service that was being introduced., Methods: Focus groups were run during 2011 in ten selected schools (parents with children in years 1-8) across two areas in Otago to represent ur ban and rural settings and to represent parents who were already travelling to dental services., Results: Parents valued the traditional School Dental Service in Otago highly, generally agreeing that the service based in schools was accessible and convenient for parents and children. Rural parents who had always taken their children to dental appointments viewed it as a normal process, accepting that there could not be a service located in every school. Parents were aware that facilities were out-of-date. They highlighted the challenges of locating therapists since they started moving from school to school in the later 1990s and felt it was difficult for children seeing different therapists at each recall. There were diverse views on the proposed new system. Some parents felt that school-aged children should go to dental clinics on their own or with peers, while other parents welcomed the opportunity to attend when their child was having health care., Conclusion: It appears that the Community Oral Health Services should have an ongoing process to seek the views of parents and children about the service.

Background: Dental problems in early childhood can have a very significant effect not only on the oral health of young children but on their quality of life and that of their families. Added to this are the long term risks they carry into the permanent dentition., Aim: To review current literature on the management of early childhood caries and its influence on wider oral and general health., Results: Recent studies suggest that the risks for dental caries, periodontal disease, malocclusion and other general health problems including overweight and obesity may be increased in children who have had early childhood caries. Traditional restoration of damaged primary teeth has been shown to have only moderate outcomes depending on the techniques and materials used and the ability of children to cooperate because of age or other factors., Conclusions: More recent interesting approaches that seal enamel caries, only partially remove carious dentine or attempt to entirely seal carious dentine lesions merit not only discussion but also longer term investigation. With increasing demands on health funding, dentistry must look at how the most appropriate care can be provided to allow children to reach adulthood with healthy permanent dentitions - something that less than half the population currently achieve.

Background: To be maximally effective, oral health preventive strategies should start at birth. There appear to be few reports on pregnant women's knowledge of oral health care for their developing children., Objectives: This exploratory study assessed Dunedin expectant mothers' knowledge of the oral health care of their future children., Methods: A questionnaire was developed to assess expectant mothers' knowledge of child oral health and appropriate prevention strategies. Three public Lead Maternity Carer (LMC) organisations and 30 private individual LMCs were asked to distribute the questionnaire to their clients attending appointments during a one-month period. Questions focused on the mother's knowledge of oral health practices for their future children, including oral hygiene and access to dental care., Results: Fewer than half of the participants thought they had enough information about their child's oral health needs. One-quarter thought that toothbrushing should not start until after two years of age. The majority thought their child should not be seen by a dental professional until this age, while one-fifth did not think their child should be seen until four years old. Poorer child oral health knowledge was found in first-time mothers, younger women, those from low-SES groups, and those who were not New Zealand (NZ) Europeans., Conclusions: A substantial number of participants were unaware of how to provide appropriate oral health care for their children despite the available information. This lack of awareness needs to be taken into account when designing oral health promotion strategies for parents of very young children.

Objectives: This study was intended to examine the treatment-associated change in aspects of oral-health-related quality of life (QoL) among children (and their families) undergoing dental rehabilitation under general anaesthesia (GA)., Methods: The parents or caregivers of a consecutive clinical sample of children receiving comprehensive dental treatment under GA at the University of Otago School of Dentistry, Dunedin, and the Christchurch Oral Health Centre, Christchurch, New Zealand, were interviewed by telephone before and after the treatment. Questions were asked relating to the impact of the condition on the child and the family. The post-treatment questionnaire also sought information related to parental satisfaction with the care provided under GA., Results: The parents or caregivers of 95 children participated in the study: 49 had treatment completed at the University of Otago School of Dentistry; and 46 were treated at the Christchurch Oral Health Centre. The child sample comprised 55.8% males and 44.2% females with a mean age of 5.1 years. Their mean dmft was 8.2. A consistent pattern of improvement was found with each indicator used. Complaints of pain, problems with eating and sleeping, and behaviour concerns showed significant improvements, with 100% improvement for children for whom frequent pre-GA problems associated with eating, sleeping and behaviour were reported. Sixty-six parents had to arrange time away from employment on the day of the GA and almost half of those incurred a loss of income. The majority of parents reported a high degree of satisfaction with the care received., Conclusions: Treating young children with high disease experience in a single session under GA results in immediate improvement in oral health and aspects of their QoL for both the children and their families., (Copyright 2004 BSPD and IAPD)

Objectives: The objective was to review the outcomes for three groups of children after two, three and four years following comprehensive dental treatment under general anaesthesia (GA) for 292 children aged 1.8 to 5.9 years of age., Design: The study was a retrospective review of ongoing dental treatment needs following treatment under GA., Methods: Information including the individual tooth treatments carried out, ongoing care, fluoride status, socioeconomic status and ethnicity was obtained from dental records from the School of Dentistry and the Otago District Health Board School Dental Service. The accuracy of the records was evaluated by clinically examining 10 percent of the children., Results: Ninety-five percent of the treated children were followed up. Fifty-five percent had new caries recorded. For the treatments provided, amalgam had a mean success of 57.1 percent, composite 73.4 percent, compomer 85.2 percent, stainless steel crowns 92.8 percent and pulpotomies 84.6 percent. The majority of replaced restorations were because of new carious lesions., Conclusions: This study indicated that most of the restorative procedures and materials used have very successful outcomes in these high-risk children. Ongoing risk of dental caries is high despite current preventive approaches. Other preventive approaches should be investigated.

Preventive dental care for children and adolescents requires a good understanding of the dental caries process and the particular relationships that exist throughout childhood and young adulthood. Only when these relationships are understood can they be used to diagnose dental caries risk and apply appropriate preventive therapies and restorative care that is effective. The need to diagnose risk when applying preventive care is as important for individual patients as it is for population groups. At the individual level, the aim is to aid the development of a healthy functioning dentition for life. This applies in the population group level but the cost benefits also become important in justifying the funding to carry out preventive practices. Risk can be determined by general factors including the socioeconomic status, access to optimally fluoridated drinking water and age. Specific factors include the microbiology of the dental plaque, dietary practices, oral hygiene practices, individual fluoride use and previous dental caries history. Once the risk has been diagnosed and the related factors identified, the best preventive approach can be selected. This may include oral hygiene, dietary change, fluoride recommendations, restorative care using fluoride releasing materials or antibacterial mouthwashes. The dentist may play several roles in preventive dental care. The first is as the giver of advice and care for the individual child patient; the second is as an advocate to help the child get the care by getting the consent and support of the parents; and the third may be to lobby for the appropriate funding to obtain this care in publicly funded programs.