Abstract Objectives: Early childhood caries (ECC) is one of the most common chronic diseases in childhood and is associated with poor growth and development. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of motivational interviewing (MI) during well-child visits on children’s oral health status and practices. Methods: This randomized controlled interventional study was conducted between April 2015 and June 2016. Mothers of infants aged between 6 and 12 months who attended their scheduled visits were eligible. Both groups received regular anticipatory guidance on oral health, and the intervention group received additional oral health education using MI augmented with an educational booklet and a reminder phone call. Study participants completed a questionnaire about oral health and nutritional habits 12 months post-intervention. Dental examinations were performed on children, and decayed, missing, and filled teeth (dmft) scores were calculated by a pediatric dentist. Results: A total of 241 mother-infant dyads were randomly allocated to the intervention (n = 121) and control (n = 120) groups, and 171 (70.9%) completed the final assessments. The overall incidence of caries in primary teeth was 21%. Caries frequency and dmft scores were significantly lower in the intervention group compared to the control group (16.0% vs. 42.2% and 0.49 vs. 0.89, respectively [p<0,001]). Regular tooth brushing was significantly higher in the intervention group (51.2 vs. 5.6%, respectively [p<0,001]). Conclusion: Oral health education delivered during well-child visits by MI was associated with better oral health. MI reduced parental risk-related behavior for ECC in the study population. Well-child visits provide an excellent opportunity for counseling parents concerning preventive strategies regarding ECC.
Purpose: Dental students play a crucial role in promoting positive oral health attitudes and behaviors among their relatives and patients. Students' self reported oral health behaviors may tend to improve as they progress in their dental education. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the difference in self reported oral health behavior and attitudes of a group of Turkish first and final-year students using the Hiroshima University Dental Behavioural Inventory. Materials & Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 237 students, including first and final-year, studying at XXX University Faculty of Dentistry, were invited. Of these, 187 students (108 first, 73 final-year) agreed to participate. Eleven students (7 first-year, 4 final-year) who did not fill out the questionnaire were excluded. The Hiroshima University Dental Behavioural Inventory was used to measure the behaviors and attitudes of the students regarding oral and dental health. Additionally, three items other than HU-DBI were added to the questionnaire. The analysis was conducted using the Chi-square test, and Independent t-test. Results: The responses of 178 students (107 first-year, 69 final-year; 122 female, 54 male) were analyzed. The self reported oral health behavior scores of the final-year students (6.21 ± 1.54) were statistically higher than the scores of the first-year students (5.03 ± 1.76) (p < 0.001). Although the score was slightly higher in females (5.57 ± 1.96) compared to males (5.33 ± 1.27), the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.334). Conclusions: According to the results of this study, education may have a significant positive effect on self reported oral health behavior and attitude of dental students. Based on the findings of university-based evaluations as this study, curricula that can gain positive attitudes to students and oral hygiene programs aimed at improving students' self-care should be developed from the early years. However, further studies that also evaluate the effect of possible confounding variables on oral health behavior should be done to clearly highlight the impact of education.
Abstract Background The aim of this study was to determine whether there is any association between molar incisor hypomineralization and developmental dental anomalies. Methods Two pediatric dentists evaluated panoramic radiographs of 429 children aged 8–14 years with molar incisor hypomineralization (study group) and 437 children without molar incisor hypomineralization (control group) in terms of developmental dental anomalies. Twelve different developmental dental anomalies were categorized into four types: size (microdontia, macrodontia); position (ectopic eruption of maxillary permanent first molars, infraocclusion of primary molars); shape (fusion, gemination, dilaceration, taurodontism, peg-shaped maxillary lateral incisors); and number (hypodontia, oligodontia, hyperdontia) anomalies. Results No significant difference was observed in the frequency of developmental dental anomalies between the study and control groups in total, females, and males (p > 0.05). A statistically significant difference was found between the distribution of developmental size, position, shape, and number anomalies between the study and control groups (p = 0.024). The most common anomaly in both groups was hypodontia (6.3% and 5.9%, respectively). There was a significant difference between the study and control groups in terms of subtypes of shape anomaly in all children and females (p = 0.045 and p = 0.05, respectively). Conclusions While a significant difference was observed between the distributions of types of developmental dental anomalies between individuals with and without molar incisor hypomineralization, there was no difference in terms of the frequency of developmental dental anomalies.
Early childhood caries (ECC) is considered a global health concern due to its high prevalence and effect on the overall health of children.The present study aimed to investigate prevalence of ECC and associated risk factors in a Turkish subpopulation of children.Five hundred forty-two (299 boys, 243 girls) children were enrolled in this study. Caries experience on primary teeth was measured using decayed or filled teeth (dft) index and the presence of caries was diagnosed if dft >0. A structured questionnaire was employed to mothers through interview.ECC was significantly associated with increased age (OR=1.032; 95% CI, 1.018-1.047; p.
Oral infections constitute some of the most common and costly forms of infections in humans. The concept of microbial ecological change as a mechanism for preventing dental disease is an important one while altered microbial ecology may lead to dental disease. New methods such as probiotic approaches (i.e. whole bacteria replacement therapy) to eliminate pathogenic members of the microbiota can be investigated. Bacteriotherapy is an alternative and promising way to combat infections by using harmless bacteria to displace pathogenic microorganisms. Probiotics are one of these new agents which are widely used for their therapeutic action. Limited research is available showing that some probiotic cultures may help dental improvement. Present paper focuses on possible oral benefits of probiotics.
summary The purpose of this article is to report the clinical course and 6‐year follow‐up of a child with ectodermal dysplasia who was treated with implants surgery very early. This article reports placement of mandibular endosseous implants in a 4‐year‐old patient with hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia and oligodontia. This congenital anomaly does not appear to retard healing and the osseointegration remains after 6 years and 3 months of loading. Mandibular and maxillary skeletal growth and development was normal. However, because of lack of alveolar growth, in time, patient's vertical growth pattern changed to low angle. This could be corrected by changing the vertical heights of the abutment and prosthesis. As a result, in ectodermal dysplasias cases with anadontia, early implant placement and fixed prosthesis could be a good multidisciplinary treatment option for poor cooperative child.
Background: Hypodontia is often used as a collective term for congenital absence of primary or secondary teeth, although specifically it describes the absence of one to six teeth excluding third molars.The prevalence of hypodontia varies from 0.03 to 10.1% in various populations.Materials and Methods: In this retrospective study, we reviewed the records of Turkish orthodontic patients treated between 1994 and 2003.A total of 1236 orthodontic patients (507 girls, 729 boys) were included in this study.The age of the patients ranged from 11 to 20 years.Data were collected and entered into the SPSS 20 program for statistical analysis.The Chi-square test was used to analyze differences in the distribution of hypodontia, sex, and malocclusion type.Results: In the total sample of 1236 patients who were orthodontically treated, hypodontia was found in 82 children, including 45 girls and 37 boys.The prevalence of hypodontia was 7%.Patients with more severe hypodontia showed a tendency to exhibit a class II relationship.The mandibular second premolar were the most commonly missing teeth in 48 girls and 26 boys.Conclusion: Hypodontia may lead to some clinical problems including malocclusions, esthetic and functional complaints, and also psychological problems.All cases should be evaluated by an interdisciplinary approach for appropriate treatment choice.Our data emphasize the importance of detailed and careful radiographic examination.This helps in long-term and effective treatment planning according to a child's individual requirements.
