The paper presents the assessment of tooth decay prevalence in clinically homogenous groups of children receiving long-term preventive program (PP) in school dental facilities. Five-years PP were introduced in clinical practice in 2 Moscow schools. Preventive treatment was performed by dental hygienist. The results show that systematic preventive treatment in school dental offices starting from elementary school allows reducing dental caries incidence 46-53% and stabilize the incidence of caries complications. It should be mentioned though that analysis of individualized outcomes proves heterogeneity of study results despite of equal conditions of PP. Potentially significant hence is early diagnostics and treatment of initial caries forms as demineralization foci, especially in children with intensive tooth decay. Optimization of pediatric dentist and dental hygienist activity in school dental facilities is the main factor of caries prevention efficiency.

Relevance. At present the question of finding and applying effective methods and approaches for diagnosing early manifestations of dental caries in the form of foci of demineralization during eruption of  permanent teeth in children remains an important and relevant issue. Timely diagnosis at the age of 6-7 years prevents the transition of the initial forms of caries into carious defects and further excludes the use of invasive methods of surgical recovery treatment. The aim is improving the approach of caries diagnostics approach by identifying foci of demineralization and hidden carious cavities in children during teething of permanent teeth.Materials and methods. An epidemiological examination of 380 children in Moscow aged 6-7 years was carried out. Of the total number of children examined by the method of randomization 150 people were selected, which are divided into 3 groups depending on the intensity of caries. Children of each group were diagnosed with caries using various diagnostic methods – visual inspection, vital staining, hardware method (Estus-LED-Alladin Multicolor (Geosoft, Russia).Results. In children 6-7 years of age in Moscow, the average prevalence and intensity of caries was established. However, the epidemiological examination does not take into account the number of foci of demineralization and hidden carious cavities, which can subsequently be transformed into destructive forms and cause an increase in caries. This indicates the need to improve the diagnostic approach using different methods for identifying early forms of caries. When using the hardware method, a greater number of foci of demineralization and hidden carious cavities were revealed on all surfaces of permanent teeth. There was a tendency to an increase in the number of foci of demineralization and hidden carious cavities depending on the intensity of caries.Conclusions. The effectiveness of the hardware method in the group of children DMF = 0 was 40,9% in comparison with the visual method and 36,4% in comparison with vital staining; with DMF = 1-2 – 35,4% in comparison with other methods, with DMF ≥ 3 – 43.3% in comparison with the visual and 40% in comparison with the vital. Diagnosis of early forms of caries made it possible to prescribe treatment and preventive measures in a timely manner and further reduce the growth of caries.

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