Abstract

JUNQUEIRA, Simone Rennó; ANTUNES, José Leopoldo Ferreira; ARAUJO, Maria Ercília de  and  NARVAI, Paulo Capel. Evaluation of a public oral health educational and mouth rinse program for the prevention of caries in an area using fluoridated water. RGO, Rev. gaúch. odontol. (Online) [online]. 2011, vol.59, n.3, pp. 431-438. ISSN 1981-8637.

Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of the collective procedures (CPs = oral health educational and preventive annual programs developed in public schools by the public health system) for preventing dental caries. Methods To compare the experiences of caries in adolescents aged 15 to 19 (n = 213), in the 9th grade of public schools, whether or not they were participants in the collective procedure when children. The data was obtained in 2005 in a cross-sectional study conducted in Embu, in the metropolitan region of Sao Paulo, which has been conducting collective procedures since 1992 and has had its water fluoridated since 1983. Groups: A - those who had received the collective procedure in elementary school from 1st to 4th grade; B - those who had received them from 1st to 8th grade and C - those who had not received the collective procedure. Oral examinations and interviews were conducted. The experiences of caries were evaluated by DMFT, used as a dependent variable, with the definition of two outcomes: DMFT≥1 or DMFT≥4. Other variables, such as socioeconomic levels, oral hygiene habits and dietary patterns were part of the bivariate analysis and multiple regression models. Results The DMFT of the sample was 2.49 (95% CI; 2.10-2.88). There was a difference between the means of groups B (3.1) and C (2.0) (p=0027). The percentage of those caries-free (DMFT = 0) was lower in group B (p=0007). Conclusion The DMFT of the participants of the collective procedures was no lower than with those who did not participate so, in this context, collective procedures were not effective in causing a favorable impact on future generations.

Keywords : Adolescent health.; Dental caries.; Dental health education.; Oral health..