Resumo

BERNABE ORTIZ, Eduardo; SANCHEZ-BORJAS, Pablo César  e  DELGADO-ANGULO, Elsa Karina. Effectiveness of a community-based oral health intervention: results after 18 months. Rev Med Hered [online]. 2006, vol.17, n.3, pp.170-176. ISSN 1018-130X.

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of a community-based oral health intervention addressed to children between 6 and 14 years old of underserved communities from Sol Naciente (Carabayllo), performed by dental students of the Faculty of Stomatology Roberto Beltrán Neira at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia. Materials and methods: 112 children were covered by the preventive-promotional intervention until the 18-month evaluation. The effectiveness was assessed measuring the variation in dental caries prevalence and experience, restorative level, oral hygiene level and proportion of sealed and filled permanent molars at the beginning of the intervention and 18 months later. Results: There was no significant variation in dental caries prevalence and experience between both examinations. However, it was found a significant increase in proportion of decay teeth and surfaces that were filled (p < 0.001 and p = 0.015 respectively), in oral hygiene level (p < 0.001) and in proportion of sealed and filled permanent molars (P < 0.001 in both cases). Conclusions: Current findings indicate that intervention was effective to control dental caries and improve the restorative and oral hygiene levels as well as the proportion of sealed and filled permanent molars in the participants. Further studies are required to assess the effectiveness and costs of similar interventions in Peru. (Rev Med Hered 2006;17:170-176).

Palavras-chave : Effectiveness; community-based intervention; children; dental caries; oral hygiene.

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