This study aimed to compare the impact of anticipatory guidance on the caries incidence of 2-3-year-old preschool children and their 4-6-year-old siblings, as well as on their mothers' oral health literacy, as compared to the conventional Ministry of Health (MOH) programme.
This quasi-experimental study was conducted at two government dental clinics in Batu Pahat District, Malaysia. The samples comprised of 478 mother-child-sibling trios (233 families in the intervention group, and 245 families in the control group). An oral health package named the Family Dental Wellness Programme (FDWP) was designed to provide anticipatory guidance to the intervention group at six-month intervals over three years. The control group received the standard MOH oral health education activities. The impact of FDWP on net caries increment, caries prevented fraction, and mother's oral health literacy was assessed after three years of intervention.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
478
Anticipatory guidance given to mothers to promote their children's oral health.
Batu Pahat Dental Clinic
Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia
Incidence of dental caries
Change from baseline dental caries prevalence at 3 years using visual and tactile examination
Time frame: Baseline and 3 years
Mothers' oral health literacy
Changes in mothers' oral health literacy at 3 year follow up using a validated Dental Health Literacy instruments
Time frame: Baseline and 3 years
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