Effectiveness of School Dental Screening to Reduce Untreated Caries: A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of dental screening plus referral to a specific treating facility (intervention arm) against screening plus advice letter to see a dentist (traditional screening, and control arm) on changes in untreated caries among primary schoolchildren. A cluster-randomized, assessor-blinded, controlled trial was conducted in 16 public schools in Riyadh city, Saudi Arabia. Children aged 6–11 years without any compromising medical condition were eligible for inclusion. Children were examined for dental caries at baseline and 12 months later. Parents reported their socio-demographic characteristics and their child use of dental services at baseline and follow-up. Differences in the number of decayed primary and permanent teeth between trial arms were assessed using 3-level mixed-effects models to account for the clustering of children within schools and baseline demographic differences between arms. Data from 1,098 children (537 in the intervention and 561 in the control arm) were analysed. In the mixed-effect model, no differences in the increment of decayed primary and permanent teeth were found between the intervention and control arms (rate ratio: 0.88; 95% CI: 0.53–1.06). No differences between arms were found in the proportion of children visiting the dentist either (secondary outcome). The findings of this trial provided no support for the effect of post-screening referral to a specific dental hospital, compared to traditional screening, on changes in untreated dental caries among primary schoolchildren.

Inequalities in the Oral Health-Related Quality of Life Among Children in Saudi Arabia

“…The author of the study utilized baseline data from a longitudinal randomized controlled trial conducted over a period of four months in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia [ 15 ]. The elementary school students who were enrolled in public schools constituted the study participants.…”

Impact of Virtual Supervised Tooth Brushing on Caries Experience and Quality of Life among Primary School Children: Study Protocol for a Randomised Controlled Trial

“…Based on total number of school children in Riyadh City (30) and previous study conducted on the same target (31), a sample size of 455 children (in each trial group) is required to detect a 0.50-unit difference in the number of teeth with untreated caries between the two groups, assuming 80% statistical power, 5% signi cance level and intra-class correlation coe cient (ICC) for dental caries at individual level of 0.05. The total sample size will be rounded up to 1092 (546 in each group) to allow a dropout rate of up to 20%.…”